Ryan Garcia competed just once in 2021 when he rebounded from getting knocked down for the first time in his professional career to stop Luke Campbell in the seventh round.
After stepping away from the sport to work on his mental health and recover from a broken wrist, Garcia returns to the ring on Saturday as he takes on Emmanuel Tagoe from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The fight can be seen exclusively live worldwide on DAZN.
When it came to who would face Garcia to kickoff his 2021 campaign, Tagoe was on the shortlist of opponents. But instead, Garcia chose Campbell and that decision isn't lost on Tagoe. While he feels Garcia had a 'good' performance, every time he thinks about why the fight didn't come to fruition, the 33-year-old draws the same conclusion.
"Ryan knows he’s scared of me for a long time," Tagoe told DAZN.
"I don't know the reason why (Garcia didn’t fight me). I'll fight Ryan Garcia. He didn’t fight with me. He fight with Luke Campbell. After that, he sit down a year time before he decides to fight me.
"I think Ryan doesn’t have a chance and doesn’t bring anything to the table for me. I think he’s scared of me. That’s why he chose Luke Campbell."
As Garcia was contemplating on who he'd square off with in his return to action, the cream of the crop in the lightweight division were tied up or angling for potential bouts. Tagoe is on the cusp of breaking through in the stacked division. So when push came to shove, and Garcia saw the landscape, Tagoe felt the 23-year-old didn't have much choice but to face him after a 15-month layoff.
"Because he doesn’t get an option now," Tagoe bluntly said.
"He wants to fight me because if you think you are the best, you want to fight the best. I want to fight anyone at 135. I want to fight everybody. I don’t come here to gloat. I'm here to bring the best in the 135-pound division. I'm here to surprise everyone. I'm here to give anyone good boxing."
After losing his professional debut, Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) hasn't lost since. Garcia will be his most formidable foe to date as Tagoe competes for only the third time in the United States. However, the lack of caliber opponents and being in the U.S. doesn't matter to the native of Ghana. He plans on teaching Garcia a lesson and notching the biggest win of his career, and inserting himself into the upper echelon of the lightweight division.
"I know I beat Ryan Garcia," Tagoe defiantly said.
"I don't watch Ryan Garcia much, but I know Ryan Garcia.
"He’s a good fighter because there is no way you can’t tell that Ryan Garcia is a good fighter.
"Yes, I (will) teach Ryan Garcia; you sometimes lose if you go to school. You know more by your teacher teach you do this, do that, do this. I teach Ryan Garcia because I know I'm the teacher. I'm the king of the ring on April 9. I think that very night is my night."