Undefeated lightweight Ryan Garcia returned to the ring after 15 months out with a convincing win over Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe.
The American was in control throughout but was forced to go 12 rounds for the first time in his career with Tagoe offering very little and seemingly happy just to go the distance.
Garcia put Tagoe on the canvas late in round two with a right shovel hook but the Ghanaian beat the count before immediately clinching to survive the round.
The bout followed the same pattern until the final bell with Garcia working to find the knockout blow and Tagoe just about managing to hold on, while sending precious little back at his Californian opponent.
The judges scored the fight 119-108, 118-109, 119-108 to Garcia to take the 23-year-old to to 22-0 (19KOs) and end Tagoe’s 32-fight winning streak, he is now 32-2 after suffering his first defeat since his pro debut nearly 18 years ago.
“I had to walk him down, he wasn’t giving me anything,” Garcia said after the fight. “I’ll learn more, I know I got a lot more in me.”
On the possibility of revisiting a superfight with Gervonta Davis, Garcia added: “I don’t want to call anyone out. We already did that and those fights didn’t happen. I don’t want to lie to y’all. I just want to learn from this and move on. If the fight happens, it happens.”
Credit: Sky Sports
