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Ryan Garcia Defeats Emmanuel Tagoe
San Antonio was treated to fireworks at the Alamodome today
when the undefeated boxing superstar, Ryan Garcia (22-0,
18KOs) of Victorville, CA, made a triumphant return to the
ring against the top-rated Emmanuel “The Gameboy” Tagoe
(32-2, 15KOs) of Accra, Ghana. The 12-round lightweight
fight featured a strong performance from Garcia to a crowd
of 14,459 as he landed an early power punch that sent Tageo
to the canvas in the second round. Once both fighters found
their rhythm, Garcia systematically broke down the Ghanaian
boxer as he landed precise punches to the head and body.
Tagoe tried his best to keep his distance using an
ineffective jab. Garcia visibly hurt Tageo in the 10th
round, but the Ghanaian fighter resorted to holding Garcia
to prevent further punishment. Ultimately, the judges ruled
in Garcia’s favor with scores of 119-108, 118-109, 119-108
for a victory by unanimous decision.
“He was making it difficult for me to end it,” said Ryan
Garcia. “He was crafty with the holding, and I was trying to
get him off me, and he was moving a lot; it was a new
experience. I think I have to cut the ring off better with a
guy who will keep moving all 12 rounds. I made sure to get
him in the body a lot and used my left hook to hurt him. I
have a lot of love for San Antonio. It was great that after
a year and a half layoff, I was received by such a great
crowd. It’s a blessing. I wanted to knock him out, but he
was very crafty. At the moment, I could feel like I hurt
him, but he really can take a punch.”
“First of all I want to thank my team,” said Emmanuel Tagoe.
“I know the reason why I lost. I didn’t throw my right arm.
He came forward but I couldn't get any points from pushing.
I think I’m going to go home and sit down with my team. Ryan
Garcia is a good boxer.”
“I think Ryan did a fantastic job, after a one-and-a-half
layoff,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden
Boy. “He fought a tough guy from Ghanna with only one
defeat, he was slick, he was tough, he was surviving the
whole night. Ryan almost had him out but I am glad Ryan went
12-rounds, it was a great experience.”
"In between rounds I was just telling him you’ve got to
track him down," said Joe Goossen, Trainer to Ryan Garcia.
"He’s not going to engage you just have to keep the pressure
on. He’s a tough kid. He only has one loss in the beginning
of his career. He’s been on a win streak for a very long
time. He has a great chin. He was in great shape and he came
here to win. He didn’t comer here to lose. But after a while
he was not trying to win, he was just trying to survive.
Ryan was then trying to track him down and trying to catch
him. Tahoe was not being very agreeable and he didn’t engage
to fight a lot. Who will we fight next? I take a back seat
to all of that. They don’t come to the gym and tell me how
to train my guys and I don’t go to their office and tell
them how to make fights. When they throw something g at me I
say that sounds good to me and we go to work."
“We’re going to talk to Dibella and see what’s next,” said
Peter Khan, Manager to Emmanuel Tagoe. “Emmanuel went 12
rounds with Ryan. Emmanuel was out of the ring longer than
Ryan so I think that’s a victory. I think we learned that
Emmanuel has a chin, he took some big shots tonight. It was
a good fight and Ryan performed really well.”
In the co-main event of the night, the resilient “King”
Gabriel Rosado (26-15-1, 15 KOs) of Philadelphia, PA, was
defeated by Shane Mosley Jr. (18-4, 10 KOs) of Pomona, CA,
via majority decision in a 10-round fight capturing the WBA
Continental Americas Super Middleweight title. The fight
went the distance as Mosley used his jab to set up his
shots, while Rosado became the aggressor. Mosley, Jr. made
great use of his footwork and head movement to avoid many of
Rosado’s power punches. Mosley won with scores of 98-92,
97-39, and 95-95.
“They know who I am now,” said Shane Mosley, Jr. “Gabriel is
a great champ. We have to see what’s available. Right now
168 is tied up. Canelo has all the belts. Unless he vacates
or fights someone else. I mean who’s going to turn down
Canelo. I moved to 168 for the opportunity.”
History was made for women’s boxing as Houston’s Marlen
Esparza (12-1, 1 KOs) defeated Tokyo’s Naoko Fujioka
(19-3-1, 17 KOs) via unanimous decision and was crowned the
WBC, WBA, and first ever Ring Magazine Flyweight World
Championship. The 10-round championship fight was full of
edge-of-your seat action as both fighters came forward and
delivered devastating punches. Esparza made sure to use her
feet to avoid some of Fujioka’s attacks. Ultimately, the
judges ruled in favor of Esparza with scores of 100-90,
100-90 and 97-93.
“I thought it was a really good performance considering how
hard she brings it,” said Marlen Esparza. “She’s a very
seasoned fighter, she’s a world champion. I’m proud we did
everything we practiced, me and my couch James Cooper. We
really executed well and we expected it to go that way. You
don’t know what a world champion can bring. We had to be
patient and see what she had to bring to the table. It
wasn’t tough because of the punches but more because she was
smothering. I’m really just grateful I could have this
experience not only for womens’ boxing but for my fans and
really solidify the division. I really want the next two
belts. ‘La Bonita’ from Argentina is the one I want, but I
have to let my team decide what’s next. I’m happy for the
future.”
Azat Hovhannisyan (21-3, 17 KOs) of Los Angeles, CA, stopped
Dagoberto Aguero (15-2, 10 KOs) of San Cristobal, Dominican
Republic, in the second via TKO in a 10-round featherweight
fight. Hovhannisyan stopped his opponent with heavy shots
stopping him at the 1:11 marker of the second round. All
fights were streamed live, exclusively on DAZN worldwide.
“I was planning on escalating the fight as it went on,” said
Azat Hovhannisyan. “That was just the second round pace. I
was warming up. When I landed the first body shot I knew I
was going to hurt him.”
Headlining the action on the Golden Boy Fight Night on
YouTube, with Beto Duran and the pride of San Antonio, WBA
Flyweight World Champion Joshua Franco calling the fights;
former world champion Patrick Teixeira (31-3, 22 KOs) of Sao
Paulo, Brazil, fought Paul Valenzuela (27-11, 17 KOs) of
Santa Rosalia, Mexico, in a scheduled 10-round middleweight
battle. Teixeira was unfortunately disqualified in the
second round due hitting his opponent on the back of the
head. Leaving Valenzuela the winner via DQ.
The co-main event of the Golden Boy Fight Night live on
YouTube featured two undefeated fighters, San Antonio’s
Gregory Morales (13-0, 8 KOs) and Hollywood, CA’s Katsuma
Akitsugi (8-0, 1 KOs) in a crowd pleasing scrap. Both
fighters came forward and delivered an action packed fight,
as they each stayed in the pocket to break down one another.
The 8-round featherweight fight ended with Akitsugi taking
the unanimous decision victory. Akitsugi won with scores of
78-74, 80-72, and 78-74.
“I want to thank my trainer and my sponsor,” said Katsuma
Akitsugi. “ I’ve been through a lot and they helped me be
more focused. I’m always training hard, no days off. So when
they call me I don’t lose my opportunity.”
After a long layoff due to injury, Tristan Kalkreuth (9-1,
7KOs) of Duncanville, TX, stopped Santander Silgado (30-11,
24 KOs) of Panama City, Panama via a spectacular second
round KO at the 2:15 marker. The heavyweight fight was
originally scheduled for 6-rounds.
“I’m very blessed to be here and be back where I am,” said
Tristan Kalkreuth. “It’s a lot of emotions right now. I felt
good. I was anxious and a little nervous. I’ve been out of
the ring for 8 months. I was curious to see how my arm would
feel. I went in and threw a right hand, it felt 100.
In a lively scrap, George Rincon (13-0, 7 KOs) of Dallas,
Texas, defeated Alejandro Frias (13-6-2, 6 KOs) of Tepic,
Mexico, via unanimous decision with scores of 96-91, 96-91,
and 98-89. The 10-round super lightweight battle saw some
notable moments when Rincon was pushed out of the ring and
received a head butt that made the judges take away a point
from Frias.
“That was obviously my toughest fight to date,” said George
Rincon. He was a very rugged fighter, I knew that coming
into the fight. But this experience is only going to make me
better. I was able to identify things that I still have to
work on.”
Dallas’ Hector Valdes Jr. (15-0, 8 KOs) beat Mexico City’s
Daniel Moncada (15-6-2, 5 KOs) in an 8-round super
bantamweight fight. Valdez Jr. won with scores of (80-71),
(79-72) and (78-72) via unanimous decision.
“I feel really rusty,” said Hector Valdez Jr. “ I think I
could’ve taken him out if I trained more. It’s the first
fight in over a year. I hurt him but he was really crafty to
get in and hit him. There were punches there but as soon as
I threw them he would move a little and they would go off
course.”
In the first fight of the night, Santos Ortega (7-0, 3 KOs)
of Sacramento, CA defeated Hollywood, Florida’s Jesus
Martinez (30-16-1, 15 KOs) via knock out at the 2:15 marker
of the second round. The fight was originally scheduled to
be a 6-round featherweight fight.
“This is probably the best and strongest I’ve ever felt,”
said Santos Ortega. “I was praying everything went good. He
was waiting for that overhand and I was too. I knew I had
him hurt with a right hand and I just went in. I knew he was
done, I felt it.
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