There are few active fighters in the sport better than Blair ‘The Flair’ Cobbs at self-promotion.
The unbeaten and normally outspoken welterweight may have met his match from an unexpected target, though Cobbs views it as the wake-up call he didn’t know that he needed. Alexis Rocha came prepared during Thursday’s final pre-fight press conference ahead of their DAZN headliner this Saturday at USC Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Rocha (18-1, 12KOs) not only vowed to beat Cobbs, who he views as a clown and is prepared to run the one-man circus out of town. The charismatic Cobbs (15-0-1, 10KOs) used it as motivation, doubling down on his promotion-long prediction to knock out Rocha as he advances his own career.
“I’m the baddest man on the planet. I’m just so busy whipping ass, I don’t even have time to finish this fight,” Cobbs insisted. “This fight is not gonna go the distance. Thank you Alexis for talking sh!t because you have ended your career f------ with Blair ‘The Flair.’”
The fight was originally due to serve as the co-feature for Saturday’s show, receiving an upgrade after the original headliner took a hit. Rising welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz Jr. (18-0, 18KOs) was due to face England’s Michael McKinson (21-0, 2KOs), only to be pulled from the show after the Texan was hospitalized and diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis earlier in the week.
McKinson remains on the show, with his welterweight fight versus Tijuana’s Jesus Antonio Perez Campos (24-3, 18KOs) moved to the co-feature slot. The development provides Cobbs with the main event status he has long craved—to the point of previously questioning why his fight wasn’t the main event to begin with over Ortiz.
The fight is the first for Cobbs—a 32-year-old southpaw from Philadelphia who now lives in Las Vegas and trains out Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood—since a fifth-round knockout of Brad Solomon last June. The intention heading into 2022 was to be far more active and a regular headlining attraction. One part of that wish list has come to fruition, with Cobbs prepared to seize the moment—for however long it lasts.
“We’re gonna shut this fight down early,” promises Cobbs. “There ain’t no running, there ain’t no hiding. There ain’t no pity pat shot. This is going to be a fight, a war going on over here baby.
“I’ll show you everything I got. I’ve been ready. I come from the streets of Mexico. You’re Mexican, don’t even fight like a Mexican.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
