Ryan Garcia makes his highly anticipated return to the ring on April 9 when he meets Emmanuel Tagoe at the Alamodome in San Antonio, which can be worldwide exclusively on DAZN.
Last week, DAZN's Chris Mannix revealed that Garcia-Tagoe would be contested at a catchweight of 139 pounds instead of the lightweight limit of 135 pounds. There was an uproar over the announcement, with the feeling that Garcia was having difficulty cutting weight. To Garcia, it is much ado about nothing.
Garcia feels it only made sense because he and Tagoe are coming off of long layoffs. Garcia wants everyone not to worry as he's in great shape and not for them to nitpick on this matter.
"This was agreed to long before the contract was signed," Garcia told DAZN. "Everybody was trying to make it seem like it was just put in right now that we're doing 139.
"This was already discussed way before we signed the contract. It really has nothing to do with if I can make 135. I know I can make 135. I'm on track to make 135 right now. I'm six pounds away, seven pounds away. So it's really nothing. But this is smart. It's not a title fight. We're just coming back, and we're gonna make 139. What's the difference between four pounds (laughs)?
"In the sport of boxing, it’s really nothing. I don't blow up in fights to act like I'm fat or something. Have I ever blown up after a fight? Even in my long layoff, you can look at me and say Ryan's in shape (and) that he hasn't lost shape. People, they like to s— on me."
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) last fought in January 2021 when he roared back from getting knocked down to stopping Luke Campbell in the seventh round. He was scheduled to face Javier Fortuna last July but pulled out due to mental health issues. Then he was set to square off with Jo Jo Diaz at the end of November. But he was forced to bow out because of a broken wrist.
Tagoe has been mentioned as a possible Garcia foe in the past. However, he wasn't the original opponent Garcia had in mind for his return to action. The 23-year-old targeted Issac Cruz, who was coming off losing a close decision to Gervonta Davis in December. When that failed to materialize, Tagoe's name came up again, and here we are.
"I definitely didn’t settle on Tagoe," Garcia said. "I was trying to fight Isaac Cruz. I was really pushing for that. That didn't work out.
"I don't know why. I'm not gonna even argue who sent what. I know I was trying to get the fight. Then Tagoe came, and we got offered it. I thought it was a smart fight because we're both coming off a layoff.
"He wanted to fight me before Luke Campbell, and I chose to fight Luke Campbell. I had two mandatories. I had Tagoe or Luke Campbell. I could have took both of those, but I said I wanted to fight Campbell, but now coming back, I'll just fight Tagoe."
Garcia's only competed twice in the last two years. His goal for 2022 is to compete more often and remind the boxing world that he's the guy to watch in the lightweight division.
"I'm going to be more active," Garcia said. "You're going to expect timing and explosion. Everything I do, I do have bad intentions. I don't look to toss you around for a couple of rounds. If you get hit with a good one, I'm gonna be looking to take you out (a) majority of the time."