SAN ANTONIO, TX (April 6, 2022) – Fighters featured on the DAZN broadcast on April 9th, treated San Antonio boxing fans to a show as they each showed off their boxing skills during their media workout today. The event was streamed live on YouTube, hosted by Golden Boy Fight Night’s Beto Duran. Fighters featured at today’s event included the main event, Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18KOs) of Victorville, CA, who makes his grand return to the ring in a 12-round lightweight battle against the top-rated Emmanuel “The Gameboy” Tagoe (32-1, 15KOs) of Accra, Ghana. Also in attendance, the co-main event of the night, “King” Gabriel Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs) of Philadelphia, PA, and Shane Mosley Jr. (17-4, 10 KOs) of Pomona, CA, will face each other in a 10-round fight for the WBA Continental Americas Super Middleweight title. Houston’s Marlen Esparza (11-1, 1 KOs) and Tokyo’s Naoko Fujioka (19-2-1, 17 KOs) were on site to promote their 10-round fight for three world titles, the inaugural Ring Magazine Flyweight World Championship, the first-ever in the women’s flyweight division, and the WBC and WBA Flyweight World Championships. Also, Azat Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16 KOs) of Los Angeles, CA, was also onsite to talk about his upcoming fight against Dagoberto Aguero (15-1, 10 KOs) of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, in a 10-round featherweight battle as the opening DAZN fight of the night, live from San Antonio’s Alamodome on April 9th. The DAZN live stream will begin at 6:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. CT / 9:00 p.m. ET.
RYAN GARCIA, UNDEFEATED LIGHTWEIGHT CONTENDER:
“Boxing is part of me. I have been doing this since I was seven years old and I am good at it. I know that I still have a lot left to give to the sport. I feel pretty safe in the ring. I am not taking a beating. Even in sparring I don’t feel like I am getting hit with a lot of shots. And fortunately, I am healthy enough to continue to fight at a high level and give fans some amazing fights. I feel great and I am going to make every day count.
“I miss everything about boxing: the competition, the contact, destroying someone. Seeing the shot; knowing where it is going to land; knowing that the timing is just perfect. I just love to fight and just be better than the person in front of me.
“Tagoe is a veteran, he is going to try his best to keep me off of him, to survive. His goal, I think, is to not get knocked out. I know he has been saying that facing me will be easy. But I can say one thing, my job is to not make his life easy in that ring. Fans should be ready to see me give this fight everything I got. If he can take a shot, it will be a good fight. If he can’t, he will be out of there very quick.
“This is going to be an exciting fight from me. You can expect timing and explosion. I don’t look to toss someone around for a couple of rounds. If I land a good one, you can expect that I am going to be looking to take someone out.”
EMMANUEL “THE GAMEBOY” TAGOE, LIGHTWEIGHT CONTENDER:
“I think I have the tools to knockout Ryan on Saturday. This fight is an opportunity for me to showcase myself.
“I came here to knock out Ryan Garcia. I think he’s good but he’s not my size. I can’t wait for Saturday. I’m going to show everyone.
“Training camp was good and I’m happy with this fight. Everyone is going to like this fight. I come to win with a knockout or no knockout. I waited for this opportunity. To all of Garcia’s fans watch out for Saturday.”
“KING” GABRIEL ROSADO, WBA CONTINENTAL AMERICAS SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION:
“I’m excited to get back in the ring and do my thing. Yeah I got to be part of his father’s training camp when he went against margarito. But at the end of the day it’s business, we’re in the hurt business. This is what we do. We’re going to do our thing and I’m going for the knockout. It’s just perseverance. Not listening to what people have to say.”
SHANE MOSLEY JR, SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT CONTENDER:
“It’s great to have all these eyes on me. I’m happy to be on this card. Being the co-main event is great. Me and Ryan used to see each other in the amateurs. I can’t wait to get in the ring with Gave Rosado. I’m definitely going to show everyone what I’m made of. I’m really focused.”
MARLEN ESPARZA, WBC FLYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION:
“It’s amazing. Being like 3 hours from my home. I prepared like I usually do. I was already excited to get the ring with another champion. When it was brought to my attention that it was possible with the ring belt it really solidified what I’ve always wanted to do. I’m going to put on a show, it’s going to be a good night.”
NAOKO FUJIOKA, WBA FLYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPION:
“I’m so excited for this fight. It doesn’t matter to me that I’m in her hometown. I wanted to get a bigger name. I am here to represent Japan.”
AZAT HOVHANNISYAN, FEATHERWEIGHT CONTENDER:
“Yes I was with Robert Garcia before. I learned a lot of good things from him. I feel good, I’m calm. I want to fight anyone at 122. I’m ready for any fighter.”
