Fighters featured at today’s event included the main event, Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18KOs) of Victorville, CA, who makes his grand return to the ring in a 12-round lightweight battle against the top-rated Emmanuel “The Gameboy” Tagoe (32-1, 15KOs) of Accra, Ghana.
Also in attendance, the co-main event of the night, “King” Gabriel Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs) of Philadelphia, PA, and Shane Mosley Jr. (17-4, 10 KOs) of Pomona, CA, will face each other in a 10-round fight for the WBA Continental Americas Super Middleweight title.
Houston’s Marlen Esparza (11-1, 1 KOs) and Tokyo’s Naoko Fujioka (19-2-1, 17 KOs) were on-site to promote their 10-round fight for three world titles, the inaugural Ring Magazine Flyweight World Championship, the first-ever in the women’s flyweight division, and the WBC and WBA Flyweight World Championships.
Also, Azat Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles, CA, was onsite to talk about his upcoming fight against Dagoberto Aguero (15-1, 10 KOs) of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, in a 10-round featherweight battle as the opening DAZN fight of the night, live from San Antonio’s Alamodome on April 9th.
The DAZN live stream will begin at 6:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. CT / 9:00 p.m. ET.
RYAN GARCIA
“Boxing is part of me. I have been doing this since I was seven years old, and I am good at it. I know that I still have a lot left to give to the sport. I feel pretty safe in the ring. I am not taking a beating.
Even in sparring, I don’t feel like I am getting hit with many shots. And fortunately, I am healthy enough to continue to fight at a high level and give fans some fantastic fights. I feel great, and I am going to make every day count.
“I miss everything about boxing: the competition, the contact, destroying someone. Seeing the shot; knowing where it will land; knowing that the timing is just perfect. I love to fight and just be better than the person in front of me.
“Tagoe is a veteran, and he will try his best to keep me off of him, to survive. His goal, I think, is not to get knocked out. I know he has been saying that facing me will be easy. But I can say one thing:
my job is not to make his life easy in that ring. Fans should be ready to see me give this fight everything I got. If he can take a shot, it will be a good fight. If he can’t, he will be out of there very quickly.
“This is going to be an exciting fight for me. You can expect timing and explosion. I don’t look to toss someone around for a couple of rounds. If I land a good one, you can expect that I will be looking to take someone out.”
EMMANUEL “THE GAMEBOY” TAGOE
“I think I have the tools to knockout Ryan on Saturday. This fight is an opportunity for me to showcase myself.
“I came here to knock out Ryan Garcia. I think he’s good, but he’s not my size. I’m going to show everyone. I can’t wait for Saturday.
“Training camp was good, and I’m happy with this fight. Everyone is going to like this fight. I come to win with a knockout or no knockout. I waited for this opportunity. To all of Garcia’s fans, watch out for Saturday.”
GABRIEL ROSADO
“I’m excited to get back in the ring and do my thing. Yeah, I got to be part of his father’s training camp when he went against Margarito.
But it’s business, and we’re in the hurt business. This is what we do. We’re going to do our thing, and I’m going for the knockout. It’s just perseverance. Not listening to what people have to say.”
SHANE MOSLEY JR
“It’s great to have all these eyes on me. I’m happy to be on this card. Being the co-main event is great. Ryan and I used to see each other in the amateurs. I can’t wait to get in the ring with Gave Rosado. I’m going to show everyone what I’m made of. I’m focused.”
MARLEN ESPARZA
“It’s amazing. I was like 3 hours from my home. I prepared like I usually do. I was already excited to get the ring with another champion.
It was brought to my attention that it was possible with the ring belt, which solidified what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m going to put on a show. It’s going to be a good night.”
NAOKO FUJIOKA
“I’m so excited for this fight. It doesn’t matter to me that I’m in her hometown. I wanted to get a bigger name. I am here to represent Japan.”
AZAT HOVHANNISYAN
“Yes, I was with Robert Garcia before. I learned a lot of good things from him. I feel good, and I’m calm. I want to fight anyone at 122. I’m ready for any fighter.”
Fighters featured on the DAZN broadcast on April 9th treated San Antonio boxing fans to a show as they each showed off their boxing skills during their media workout today. The event was streamed live on YouTube and hosted by Golden Boy Fight Night’s Beto Duran.