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By Mark Eisner: Ryan Garcia (22-0, 19 KOs) was forced to go the distance in beating Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15 KOs) by a lackluster 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Ryan, 23, dropped Tagoe in the second round and badly hurt him in the tenth round. However, Ryan couldn’t put him away.

Tagoe, 33, just came to survive, moving nonstop, rarely letting Ryan land his big left hook.

“I got nothing but respect for Tagoe. he was crafty with his defense. moving all the time. I got to get better at cutting off the ring,” said Ryan after the fight.

“I think if I had pressed a little harder, I would have gotten him out of there. He’s very slippery, and I had to walk him down. I tried to knock him out. He was really hurt, but I couldn’t find the next shot. I’m going to let my team behind it.

I’m going to trust my team. When we fight, we fight,” said Ryan when asked who he wanted to fight next.

The scores were 119-108, 119-108, and 118-109.

Undercard results

• In a surprising upset, middleweight Shane Mosley Jr. (18-4, 10 KOs) outboxed popular gatekeeper Gabe Rosado (26-15-1, 15 KOs) by a 10 round majority decision. The scores were 97-93, 98-92, and 95-95. The 31-year-old Mosley hurt Rosado several times in the fight with powerful shots, but he wasn’t able to finish the job due to his overly cautious style of fighting. The crowd booed the lack of action frequently in the first half of the fight, but they quieted down in the later rounds, thanks to Mosley. For Rosado, this is a really defeat because he normally loses to the top rung contenders and champions. Mosley Jr. isn’t a top guy, so this is a bad one for Rosado.
• WBC flyweight world champ Marlen Esparza (11-1, 1 KOs) defeated WBA champion Naoka Fujioka (19-2-1, 7 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision by wide scores that didn’t match the actual fight. The 46-year-old Fujioka was the one pushing the fight, landing more frequently against the slower Esparza. The judges scored it 100-90, 100-90, and 97-93. You can argue the fight could have scored a draw it wouldn’t have surprised anyone because it was that close.
• The always entertaining Featherweight Azat Hovhannisyan (21-3, 17 KOs) looked great tonight, knocking out Dagoberto Aguero (15-2, 10 KOs) in the second round in a scheduled ten-round contest. Hovhannisyan, 33, dropped Aguero twice in the second round. The contest was then halted after the second knockdown at 1:11 of the round. Hovhannisyan’s victory was his sixth consecutive since his loss to Rey Vargas in 2018.
• In a surprising outcome, middleweight journeyman Paul Valenzuela (27-11, 17 KOs) defeated former WBO junior middleweight champion Patrick Teixeira (31-3, 22 KOs) by a second-round disqualification. The referee James Green disqualified Teixeira for hitting Valenzuela with a couple of rabbit punches in the second round. Valenzuela was too injured to continue, leaving the referee with no choice but to disqualify the 31-year-old Brazilian Teixeira. It’s got to be disappointing for Teixeira to lose the fight in this manner because he was beaten in his last fight against Brian Castano by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in February. Teixeira lost his WBO 154-lb title in that contest. With this defeat, Teixeira has got a lot of work to do for him to come back from it.
• Featherweight Katsuma Akitsugi (9-0, 1 KOs) defeated Gregory Morales (13-1, 8 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were 78-74, 78-74, and 80-72. Akitsugi was all over the limited Morales, hitting him with shots and easily avoiding his efforts to counter. The fight turned out to be a mismatch unfortunate, as Akitsugi had too much talent for Morales.
• Heavyweight Tristan Kalkreuth (9-1, 7 KOs) destroyed journeyman Santander Silgado (30-12, 24 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout. The heavy-handed Kalkreuth dropped Silgado hard with a harpoon-like right hand. The 36-year-old Silgado has now lost his last four fights.
• Unbeaten light-welterweight prospect George Rincon (13-0, 7 KOs) outfought a game but limited Alejandro Frias (13-6-2, 6 KOs) in winning a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 96-91, 96-91, and 98-89. It was a grueling fight for Rincon, but he got the job done against the journeyman Frias. Rincon needs to step up a level because it’s too easy for him with the opposition he’s continually being matched against.
• Featherweight prospect Santos Ortega (7-0, 3 KOs) crushed journeyman Jesus Martinez (30-16-1, 15 KOs) by a second-round knockout. In round two, Ortiz unleashed a blizzard of heavy shots, resulting in the referee halting the contents. The time of the stoppage was at 2:15 of round two.
• Super bantamweight prospect Hector Valdez Jr. (15-0, 8 KOs) used his superior boxing skills to defeat Daniel Moncada (15-6-2, 5 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were 80-71, 79-72, and 78-73. Valdez knocked Moncada down in the fifth and had his way with the overmatched journeyman.

PreviewRyan Garcia with huge power advantage

Ryan is being positioned to face WBA 135lb champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis or the George Kambosos Jr. vs. Devin Haney winner.

“I think we get a sensational performance from Ryan Garcia in San Antonio because obviously, you know the legendary Joe Goosen, I think this is the perfect partnership,” said Ray Flores to Abrams Boxing.

“I think we get a spectacular performance out of Ryan Garcia. Tagoe, he’s just a basic fighter. I think he has a blown-up record, and I see him as a guy that is going to come forward and try and press Ryan Garcia.

“I think Ryan Garcia wipes him out. You can’t prepare for the speed or the power of Ryan Garcia, and then you have the wisdom of Joe Goosen to be able to program Ryan Garcia.

“If Ryan Garcia is going to lose a fight as he’s getting ready for a title shot, it would have been in his last fight [against Luke Campbell] in which he got knocked down in the first round [second]. Then he came back and responded so well.

“I think Joe Goosen is the kind of guy that focuses on your strengths and tries to shore up your weaknesses. That’s what he’s going to do with Ryan Garcia.

“This fight, I’m going to give you that I don’t see it lasting past the seventh round. I think Ryan Garcia obliterates Tagoe, and that’s a word that I don’t use that often. Yeah, the first half of the fight because I think Ryan Garcia is head & shoulders above Tagoe,” said Flores.

Goosen has King Ry laser-focused

“I think Joe Goosen has him so sharp, so laser-focused that it’s almost like the Roy Jones’ song, ‘Y’all must have forgot,'” said Flores. “Ryan Garcia hasn’t fought since January of last year, so fans need to be reminded about why there’s so much buzz and excitement behind Ryan Garcia.

“He has that opportunity on Saturday, and I think he will do it. That’s the fight the world wants to see,” said Flores about a match between Ryan Garcia and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. “Mayweather Promotions tried to make that fight last January with Ryan Garcia but it couldn’t be made for some reason.

“Ryan Garcia took a sabbatical and got himself focused again and got himself healthy. Now with the way their schedules are lining up, look at this.

The fact that Ryan is fighting on April 9th, and Tank is fighting almost a month and a half later [on May 28th against Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero]. You can make the scheduled work with each other.

“So, I’m hopeful and optimistic that we get that fight next, assuming that Davis beats Romero and Garcia beats Tagoe,” said Flores.

“You got a tall, rangy, fast-twitch fiber Ryan Garcia against a shorter guy that is going to need to try and get inside through that power, which is a danger zone for a pressure fighter trying to come inside,” said Max Kellerman on Max On Boxing about what Gervonta Davis would be up against tonight facing the knockout artist Ryan Garcia.

“It seems to me that Ryan Garcia would have real chances, and I hear that from people, but I don’t hear them say, ‘I like Ryan Garcia to win that fight.'”

“I think Ryan Garcia beats Tank Davis, I think Ryan is wildly underrated because he’s a social media star and has the looks and everything,” said Mike Coppinger.

“I think he’s wildly underrated, he’s great counter puncher with incredibly fast hands and great power. Gervonta Davis, I think he’s an excellent fighter, but he’s picked on a lot of smaller guys. We don’t quite know what he has.

“He hasn’t beaten an elite fighter in his weight class [lightweight] yet, and I think Ryan Garcia matches up very, very well with Tank Davis. At the very least, I think it’s a coin flip,” said Coppinger.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard someone say, ‘I like Ryan Garcia to win,'” said Kellerman. “I’ll tell you something else about that fight [Tank vs. Ryan].

“It is rare at this stage in guys’ careers where neither one has a signature win against an elite type of fighter, both guys bring real box office to the table. They both bring money to the game. It is rare where two explosive offensive fighters in that position to face each other at this point in their careers.

“So, ‘I’m skeptical that we see, ‘Ding-ding, round one there’s Garcia and Tank.'”

Ryan Garcia is in action tonight in an import return to the ring against Emmanuel Tagoe in a 139lb catchweight fight live on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

The two are headlining on DAZN tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET in a contest that is expected to have a lot of fireworks.