Golden Boy Promotions president Eric Gomez hopes to have Ryan Garcia three or four times this year after he defeated Emmanuel Tagoe.
The 23-year-old American came out of 15 months’ inactivity in Texas to defeat the experienced Ghanaian by unanimous decision, and seemed to have his rival close to a stoppage more than once.
The win puts fresh momentum into Garcia’s career after he had to take time away due to mental health concerns, and then had to pull out of a November comeback against JoJo Diaz due to a hand injury that required surgery.
Speaking to BoxingScene.com, Gomez said “This kickstarts everything.
“Going into the fight, we needed to see if he would get an early knockout, if he went twelve tough rounds and then plan accordingly. He went twelve rounds but was barely marked up. He feels healthy and the important thing is that he’s back.
“Keeping him active would be great as long as he stays healthy. We’d love to run him three times in 2022. Four would be perfect.”
Garcia fought on January 2 to defeat Luke Campbell, elevating him to WBC interim champion, but before his failure to make his clash with Diaz, he had to duck out of a July match-up with Javier Fortuna.
The Californian has since swapped trainers after receiving criticism from Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who had shared a trainer with him in Eddy Reynoso. Instead he is working with Joe Goossen, with Garcia saying after his win that he was comfortable with his new setup.
“He’s young, there’s not a mark on him. I don’t see why we can’t get him back out there ASAP,” Goossen continued.
“We’re in an era where these guys just don’t fight very often. I know Ryan wants to change that, get back to fighting every few months and I’m here to help get him to where he needs to be. He’s 23, the hand’s healthy, he’s healthy. He’s ready to fight so I don’t see why we can't keep him active with the dates we have."