Ryan Garcia set for first fight in 15 months after mental health issues, hand surgery
Lightweight star to face Tagoe on April 9 with title shot versus unified champion Kambosos possible for later in 2022
A quick note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: If you have upgraded to a paid subscription, thank you! If you have not, please consider doing so to receive the most content. A paid subscription is also your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism.
Lightweight star Ryan Garcia, who is coming off hand/wrist surgery, will return to the ring for the first time in 15 months to face Emmanuel Tagoe, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya said on Friday.
The 12-round fight will headline a DAZN card on April 9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
“We finalized Ryan Garcia and Tagoe. I’m sure a lot of people don’t know who this guy is but he’s good and he comes to fight,” De La Hoya told Fight Freaks Unite shortly after making the deal with Tagoe promoter Lou DiBella. “It’s a great fight for Ryan because Tagoe is going to come forward and give Ryan a difficult fight. I don’t think it’s going to be easy.
“Ryan has been away from the ring for 15 months. So, with his hand injury, I think this is the perfect fight for him. You can’t throw him in with world champions after being laid off for 15 months, but Tagoe is a top 10 (lightweight).”
Garcia has not fought since surviving a second-round knockdown and knocking out Luke Campbell with a body shot in the seventh round to win the WBC interim title in January 2021 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), 23, of Victorville, California, was poised for a big year but he has not fought since. He was scheduled for a July 9 fight with Javier Fortuna but pulled out due a mental health issues that had him contemplating suicide and landing in therapy. He pronounced himself ready to return and was set to face Golden Boy stablemate Joseph Diaz Jr. in November, but he withdrew after injuring his right wrist and hand and undergoing surgery in October.
But now Garcia is back in training and excited to get back in the ring.
“I wanna thank Emmanuel Tagoe for taking this fight,” Garcia wrote on social media. “No one wanted to fight me (because) they assumed I wouldn’t fight. I respect you and let’s give everyone a fight. Let’s go. This year about to be amazing!! Texas (is) going to be my second home for sure.”
De La Hoya said Garcia’s hand is healed and that he is also in the right frame of mind to resume his career.
“It’s exciting because a lot of the world is waiting for Ryan to come back,” De La Hoya said. “It’s crazy how even after 15 months Ryan is still making bigger headlines out there than anyone except the top, top world champions. He’s in full training mode. He’s stepping it up and he’s punching now with both hands and looking great. He can’t wait to get back in the ring.
“People can talk all they want about how Ryan hasn’t been reliable or he has pulled out of fights. It’s not his fault. The mental issue was a big deal. It is a big deal. He handled it well. He took care of what he had to take care of and he’s probably still going through the process he needs to with therapy. And then there was the hand injury. There’s nothing you can do about that. Ryan Garcia is now fully committed to getting back on track and winning the world title and becoming the very best at 135.”
Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs), 33, of Ghana, will be fighting in the United States for the third time. The rest of his fights have been in Ghana. He has won 32 fights in a row since losing his 2004 professional debut by fifth-round knockout.
He may not be well known but De La Hoya pointed out that the before George Kambosos Jr. outpointed Teofimo Lopez on Nov. 27 to take his unified lightweight titles in a fight of the year contender in New York, he was also very unknown.
“Who knew Kambosos when he fought Lopez,” De La Hoya said. “Tagoe has the same exact team as Kambosos. They have the same promoter (DiBella), the same trainer (Javiel Centeno) and the same manager (Peter Kahn). Hopefully, it’s not a sign. You never know with these fighters from Ghana.”
DiBella was pleased to secure a significant fight for Tagoe, who has not fought since a 10-round majority decision win over Mason Menard in Hollywood, Florida, in November 2020.
“Tagoe is a legit top lightweight kind of guy,” DiBella told Fight Freaks Unite. “Ryan’s been off for long time and he’s overcoming some issues. If Ryan is strong and himself we’re gonna get a terrific fight. Sure, Ryan is the favorite but Tagoe is a real fighter and Ryan is going to need to be 100 percent to beat Tagoe. It’s an interesting selection for Ryan coming back and a real fight, and good fight to see where Ryan is. And it’s a terrific opportunity for Tagoe, one he has been looking for. Beware of a hungry fighter with pedigree from Ghana.
“Make no mistake — Tagoe can fight and Ryan is really good. Ryan and Oscar and everyone at Golden Boy are conformable he is back and they made a legit fight for him.”
Kambosos is going to defend the lightweight world title for the first time this spring or early summer in Australia against an opponent to be determined. After that, if Kambosos wins, he and DiBella are looking to make a much bigger fight for later in the year and the leading candidates are former unified champion Vasiliy Lomachenko and Garcia, if he beats Tagoe. DiBella said he has talked to Golden Boy and DAZN about a Garcia fight and to Top Rank about a Lomachenko fight, which would be on an ESPN platform in the United States.
“We’re working on a bunch of scenarios for George but Golden Boy and I are talking about that fight and some other stuff,” DiBella said.
De La Hoya also said he and DiBella are discussing Kambosos-Garcia although any deal for that bout is not related to the deal they made for Tagoe.
“But (the talks for a Kambosos fight) are very real,” De La Hoya said. “It’s a pleasure over the years dealing with Lou DiBella. He’s a stand-up guy. It’s a fight we can make and that’s the fight we’re going to shoot for.”
DiBella said Kambosos’ next two fights will be in Australia, the first defense and the bigger fight later in the year. Would Garcia be willing to go on the road?
“We’ll have to sit down with Ryan and discuss all that,” De La Hoya said. “But there’s no reason that fight shouldn’t be in America. To make the biggest dollars and the biggest bang you have to come here and fight in America. That’s a huge pay-per-view fight, it’s a huge fight in Vegas and hopefully we can make it happen.”
De La Hoya said that if Kambosos-Garcia is made it would be a DAZN pay-per-view event. The streaming service once pronounced pay-per-view was dead with its creation. But recently, it has acknowledged that for the biggest fights on its platform it might have to go the pay-per-view route of an additional fee above the monthly or annual subscription packages its customers buy.
Photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy
To upgrade your subscription please go here: https://danrafael.substack.com/subscribe
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing