- Emmanuel Tagoe launched his boxing career in 2004 without any training apart from street fighting experience
- He had a consecutive winning streak of 32 fights before losing a face-off with Ryan Garcia in June 2022
- The former IBF Lightweight champion despite his many wins was dragged to a Ghana Circuit court that later revealed he was not the father of his 14-year-old son after a paternity test result
Emmanuel Tagoe is a 36-year-old professional boxer who hails from Ghana. He is regarded as one of the best active lightweight boxers in the world. As of this writing, he is the winner of 32 fights out of 34 that he fought. Despite losing his debut match in 2004, he rose through the ranks to place himself at 32 winning streaks over a period of close to two decades.
Despite many wins, he lost a big fight that many taught would be another boxing upset against the 26-year-old boxer, Ryan Garcia on April 9, 2022.
A Look Into The Early Life of The Boxer
He was born Emmanuel Tagoe on January 10, 1989, in his native Accra. Known by the nickname The Gameboy, he has moved from being an unknown to becoming one of the fearsome challengers in the ring. Details about his childhood and family are shrouded in mystery.
Tagoe came to the world of boxing with only the knowledge and experience of street fighting to his tab.
Emmanuel Tagoe Launched His Career In Accra, Ghana
The boxer launched his professional career on June 19 2004 when he was only 15 years old. The Accra-held bout that introduced his career faced him off with Lante Addy who won Tagoe in the fifth round by Technical Knockout.
At the time he was thrust into the ring, Tagoe had no boxing experience. Despite failing to win his debut match, he has won 32 fights in close to two decades of fighting. The Gameboy’s defeat pushed him to polish and learn boxing style as well as train with real coaches.
Thankfully, he made it to many Ghanaian and African Title matches where he retained a winning streak of 21 consecutive matches. Nine years later he made his US debut in a match against Gerardo Robles in August 2013. He won the vacant IBF Intercontinental super-featherweight title following a round 9 technical knockout against Roble.
His most recent match in April 2022 against Ryan Garcia ended in a Unanimous win against him.
Did You Know These elusive Facts About Emmanuel Tagoe?
1. He is yet to Win A World Championship
Despite fighting some of the stiffest contenders, the 36-year-old is yet to hold a major belt from one of the four major governing bodies. So far, he won titles in three out of the four major boxing bodies the IBF, WBO, and WBA.
As of now, the boxer has a long way to go after losing to Garcia in his last match.
2. Ryan Garcia made $3 Million Total Purse from his fight with Emmanuel Tagoe
It is stipulated that Tagoe’s fight with Garcia who had suffered a long layoff had a fight purse of $3 million. As per the reports, Garcia who has a high following on social media platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram will get 70% of the pay per view while Tagoe would earn 30%.
While the disparity in their earnings is wide, Tagoe got paid $200 thousand despite losing the fight.
3. Coach Javiel Centeno trains the Accra-born and bred Boxer
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For the past four years, Tagoe gets his training from celebrated Florida-based coach, Javiel Centeno founder of the Centeno sweatbox boxing gym. Centeno backed Tagoe in his April faceoff with Garcia. He has been the head trainer for The Game for the past four years.
Unlike Tagoe’s loss, Centeno was lucky with some of his trainees like George Kambosos Jr who stunned Teofima Lopez in 2021 and faced off with Devin Haney in a controversial match in June 2022.
As of this writing, Kambosos who is a sparring partner with Tagoe during training sessions will meet again with Haney in the later part of 2022. Kambosos, the Australian professional boxer has won three titles across four major boxing divisions. He won the WBA, IBF, WBO, and The Ring lightweight titles between 2021 and 2022.
So far, Tagoe, Kambosos, and the rising boxer Xander Zayas who is from Puerto Rico are the three top trainees of Centeno who has won the WBC coaching award.
4. A DNA Result Proved he is not the Father of his 14-year-old son
Tagoe has enjoyed wide acclaim in Ghana before making it to the International ranks. Besides his boxing career, he was the center of a paternity scandal when he discovered that his then 14-year-old son was not his. As the story goes, he revealed to Saddick Adams that he and a childhood friend, Diana Otoo were experimenting with sex at a young age and when she got pregnant, his mother insisted he takes responsibility.
However, things changed when the baby mama and her family started making impossible demands of him. In fact, she was said to have forced him to send the boy to high-cost schools attended by footballers such as Asamoah Gyan despite paying monthly upkeep of GH₵ 500.
His suspicion led to a DNA test that proved he was not the child’s father. He revealed that he will not sue for damages nor will he take back the things he gave to the child.
5. The IBF Lightweight Champion Plans to Become a Pastor
While many sporting events are said to have a life span, many athletes are not upfront about what they will do after the end of their careers. Going by statistics most boxers reach their prime in their early to mid-thirties.
Tagoe started hatching his plans a long time ago. According to him, he plans to become a pastor after he leaves boxing. He also revealed that he will not allow any of his children to do the sports since he claims ‘all boxers have mental problems’.
See Also: Vusi Thembekwayo Net Worth – Does He Really Have $600 Million?
Is He The Richest Boxer In Ghana?
Emmanuel Tagoe is said to be worth at least $3 million which he made from his boxing career. Though he is not as rich as boxers such as Ryan Garcia or Canelo Alvarez, Tagoe is the wealthiest boxer in Ghana.
He openly remarked on a Ghanaian radio station, Happy Fm, about the status of his wealth by comparing his fortune to Football stars Asamoah Gyan and Baffuor Gyan. While he made this startling revelation back in 2016 at a time when he had started becoming a household name, it doesn’t take the fact that he thinks highly of himself.
Moreso, his current net worth is nothing compared to the former Sunderland and Ghana national team forward, Gyan whose net worth is now $23 million even after his retirement.
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