By Ken Hissner: At the Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, Saturday over DAZN Oscar De La Hoya (Golden Boy Promotions) presented in the Main Event WBC interim World Lightweight champion Ryan “King Ri” Garcia, of L.A., California easily defeated No. 7 ranked Emmanuel “Game Boy” Tagoe of Accra, Ghana, scoring a second-round knockdown.
2012 Olympian, WBC World Female Flyweight champion Marlen Esparza of Houston, Texas, defeated WBA World Female Flyweight champion Naoko Fujioka of Tokyo, Japan, to unify the titles over ten action-packed rounds.
In the Main Event, WBC Interim Light champ Ryan “King Ri” Garcia, 22-0 (18), #138 ¾, of Victorville, CA, easily defeated “The Game Boy” Emmanuel Tagoe, 32-2 (15), #138 ¼, of Accra, GH, over 12 rounds.
In the second round, Garcia walked down Tagoe dropping him with a fight between the eyes for an 8-count by Referee Jon Schorle halfway through the match.
Garcia continued to dominate Tagoe the next three rounds having him backing up the entire time. In the seventh round, Tagoe landed his best punch of the fight, a left hook to the side of Garcia’s head. Garcia came back to dominate Tagoe the rest of the way.
In the eighth round, both had their moments, with Tagoe the shorter, coming out of a crouch landing jabs. Garcia kept chopping down on the head of Tagoe for most of the round and taking the round. In the ninth round, Tagoe stood his ground trading with Garcia, who continued landing him. In the tenth round, a right lead from Garica buckled the knees of Tagoe, who grabbed Garcia and went down to a knee that could have been called a knockdown but wasn’t by the referee.
In the eleventh round, Garcia kept lining up Tagoe for the right hand, landing it on occasion, having Tagoe on the defense. In the twelfth and final round, Tagoe started grabbing Garcia into a clinch and continued doing this for most of the round.
Garcia tried the best he could to land the big right, but it never happened as he easily won the round.
Scores were 119-108 twice and 118-109 with this writer 120-107.
Olympic Bronze Medalist and WBC World Female Fly champ Marlen Esparza, 12-1 (1), #111 ¼, of Houston, TX, defeated WBA World Female Fly champ Naoko Fujioka, 19-3-1 (7), #111 ½, of Tokyo, JAP, over 10×2 action rounds.
In the first round, near the end of the first minute, Fujioka rocked Esparza with a right on the chin, making her hold on. In the final seconds, Esparza landed a right on the chin.
In the second round, Esparza came back well, rocking Fujioka with a left hook to the head halfway through the round. In the third, it was Esparza, and in the fourth round, what looked like a knockdown from an Esparza right, was ruled a no knockdown by Referee Rafael Ramos.
From the fifth through the seventh, Fujioka got the better of Esparza. In the eighth round, Esparza landed a solid right on the chin of Fujioka halfway through the round, rocking Fujioka. In the ninth, Esparza got the best in a close round. Esparza continued landing rights to the chin on the exhausted Fujioka in the tenth and final round.
Scores were 100-90 twice and 97-93 with this writer 97-93.
In the Co-Main Event, WBC No. 9 ranked Super Middleweight “King” Gabe Rosado, 26-15-1 (15), #167 ¾, of Philadelphia, PA, and representing Puerto Rico, lost a majority decision to Shane Mosley, Jr., 18-4 (10), #167, of Santa Monica, CA, over ten rounds, for the Continental Americas title
The crowd let the boxers know they wanted more action in the first two rounds with little between the two cautious fighters. In the third round, Mosley showed an effective round to take the round. Rosado rocked Mosley in the fourth round with a right on the chin halfway through the round.
In the final minute, Mosley rocked Rosado with a right uppercut to the chin, hurting him.
In the fifth round, Mosley was quicker with his jab and landed a good left hook to the chin in the final minutes of the round. In the sixth round, Mosley hurt Rosado with a left to the upper body taking another round.
In the seventh through the ninth, Mosley continued to dominate Rosado with his hand speed. In the tenth and final round, Mosley landed double and triple jabs to the chin of Rosado. Mosley landed a left hook hurting Rosado in the last minute with thirty seconds to go.
Scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 95-95, with this writer 98-92.
Super Lightweight southpaw George Rincon, 13-0 (7), #139 ¼, of Carrollton, TX, defeated Alejandro “El Ranita” Frias, 13-6-2 (6), #141, of Tepic, Nayarit, MEX, over ten rounds.
Scores were 96-91 twice and 98-89.
Super Welterweight Patrick Teixeira, 31-2 (22), #162 ¼, of Sao Paulo, BRZ, Paul “Chicho” Valenzuela Cuesta, 27-11 (18), #168 ¼, of Santa Rosalia, Baja California, MEX, 10 rounds.
WBA No. 2 ranked Super Bantamweight Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan, 21-3 (17), 124 ¼, of Yerevan, Armenia, and L.A, CA, stopped “King” Dagoberto Aguero, 15-2 (10), #122 ¾, of San Cristobal, DR, at 1:11 of round two of a scheduled ten rounds.
In the first round, Hovhannisyan outworked Aguero. In the second round, Aguero came out fast, walking into a left hook on the chin from Hovhannisyan, and dropped for an 8-count by referee Jon Schorle.
In the final minute, a flurry of punches from Hovhannisyan dropped Aguero again for another 8-count. Upon rising, Hovannisyan was all over him with a flurry of punches causing referee Schorle to call a halt.
