Ryan Garcia drops and dominates Emmanuel Tagoe in successful return

SAN ANTONIO — One of the biggest questions heading into his highly anticipated return on Saturday was how Ryan Garcia would look against Emmanuel Tagoe. Would there be ring rust? How would his surgically repaired right hand hold up?

Garcia showed no signs of being off for 15 months, and his right hand looked as good as ever as the 23-year-old dropped Tagoe in the second round and dominated until the final bell to win a lopsided decision (119-110, 119-110, 118-109) over the game native of Ghana in front of an announced crowd of 14,459 people at the Alamodome. DAZN News scored the fight 120-107 for Garcia. Garcia (22-0, 18 KOs) came out looking to put Tagoe away in the first round. He was pounding the body with his patented left hook and throwing the overhand right. Garcia nearly put him away in the second as he stopped him in his tracks with a right, and Tagoe held on. They came out of the clinch, and Garcia threw a short right that made Tagoe spin and drop to the canvas. As he was the theme for the remainder of the fight, Tagoe held on to survive. 

Garcia continued to assert his dominance and attempted to put Tagoe away. He kept stalking Tagoe, landing the left hook and the overhand right. But Tagoe showed a good chin and knew when to hold onto Garcia. 

There was one final chance for Garcia to close the show for the rabid crowd. During the 10th round, a right wobbled Tagoe into the ropes. Garcia went for it all but to Tagoe's credit, he grabbed and clung onto Garcia, who went 12 rounds for the first time.

The obvious question now is what's next for Garcia? Plenty of talk has centered around a super fight between Garcia and Gervonta "Tank" Davis. However, Garcia didn't commit to that being his next outing because he doesn't want to disappoint the fans. 

"In the past, I'm always those callouts," Garcia said. "But, I've grown and matured, and I'm going to let my team handle it. When it's on, it's on. But as of right now, I'm going to trust my team, and we're going to move forward."

Here is what happened at Ryan Garcia vs. Emmanuel Tagoe.