SAN ANTONIO – Ryan Garcia has vowed to avoid a repeat of his 2021 campaign that began with promise and ended in ridicule.

With the growing period comes the resistance to call out the biggest names in a lightweight division packed with young talent. Garcia (22-0, 18KOs) took that very approach following his twelve-round, unanimous decision win over Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15KOs) this past Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. It was the first fight in 15 months for the unbeaten 23-year-old, who allowed reality to trump blind optimism in mapping out his future.

“My fans don’t want to hear me talk about fights that might not happen,” Garcia admitted to BoxingScene.com after his latest win. “So, no, I’m not gonna call those guys out.”

The “guys” to whom he refers are fellow unbeaten lightweights Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis (26-0, 24KOs), WBC lightweight titlist Devin Haney (27-0, 15KOs) and recently crowned lineal/WBA/IBF/WBO champ George Kambosos Jr. (20-0, 10KOs). Teofimo Lopez Jr. (16-1, 12KOs) was part of that mix at this time one year ago, though has since suffered a championship-losing split decision to Kambosos last November 27 in New York City.

Garcia got caught up in a sea of positive publicity following his off-the-canvas, seventh-round knockout of 2012 Olympic Gold medalist and former title challenger Luke Campbell (20-4, 16KOs) last January. Garcia was quick to take a victory lap, calling out fighters from Baltimore’s Davis all the way to legendary former eight-division titlist Manny Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39KOs), who was two divisions heavier at the time Garcia explored such a fight.

None of those fights materialized, nor did the two more that were actually scheduled. Garcia had to withdraw from a July 9 fight with Javier Fortuna for personal reasons, while a hand and wrist injury requiring surgery forced his cancellation of a November 27 clash with Joseph Diaz Jr.—who replaced Garcia in July and then fought Haney in a competitive but clear points loss last December 4 in Las Vegas.

Diaz drew praise for answering the call on both occasions and was also ringside on Saturday in part to build intrigue toward revisiting plans for a fight with Garcia. Whoever is next for unbeaten lightweight from Victorville, California, it will have to come outside the division’s title picture.

Kambosos and Haney are due to collide in an undisputed championship fight June 5 (June 4 in the U.S.) on ESPN from Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The fight comes one week prior to Davis defending his secondary WBA lightweight title versus mandatory challenger Rolando Romero (14-0, 12KOs) atop a Showtime Pay-Per-View from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Calling out any of those fighters for his next ring appearance would be a waste of energy for Garcia, who seems to now get it.

“I really want to fight all those guys,” admits Garcia. “I’m not going to do any more callouts, though. If those fights happen, they happen. I just want to keep getting better. We’re going to get to work for my next fight and we’ll see what happens from there.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox