By Allan Fox: Welterweight world champions Errol Spence Jr. & Errol Spence Jr. did a bit of gloating last Saturday night after watching Blair ‘The Flair’ Cobbs (15-1-1, 10 KOs) eating some humble pie in his ninth-round knockout loss to Alexis Rocha (19-1, 13 KOs) at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles.
For IBF/WBC 147-lb champion Spence, it was more personal for him watching Cobb, 32, getting stopped by Rocha, as he had trashed him during the last two weeks leading up to his match last Saturday.
Cobbs had questioned Spence’s courage for not fighting Crawford all these years and said he wasn’t the same guy that he used to be. Blair even said that Spence had had an alcohol problem.
It’s unknown whether Cobbs said all this stuff to sell his fight with Rocha or if he believes it. Whatever the case, Spence had no love for the guy and seemed glad to see him lose.
For the sport, it was disappointing to see Cobbs lose because he’s charismatic highly entertaining with his trash-talking.
You can argue that Cobbs is a more focused trash-talker than Keith Thurman. With Thurman, he starts lecturing, and it’s not always interesting to listen to during interviews.
Virtually everything Cobbs says during his interviews is pure gold, making him fun to listen to.
All that talking his ass been doing smh just looked stupid
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) March 20, 2022
Put his ass in the diiiiiirrrrrt
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) March 20, 2022
Rocha beating red ass off five heartbeats 😂😂
— Errol Spence (@ErrolSpenceJr) March 20, 2022
Cobbs tried his best against Rocha, but he was outgunned in the offensive weaponry department. Blair ‘The Flair’ didn’t have the same power in his shots as the younger 24-year-old Rocha, and he tired himself out with the steady movement.
If Cobbs could have been stationary, he would have landed more hurtful shots, but he didn’t have the power, defense, or chin to stand his ground against Rocha.
You can only imagine what Cobbs would have done to Rocha if he had Floyd Mayweather’s defense. He could have stayed in the pocket and picked off the shots from Rocha, which were easy to see coming. Rocha’s left hand was his primary weapon, and he was telegraphing it all night.
“I had to do what I had to do to win,” said Alexis Rocha to Fighthype. “Errol Spence? I’ve got to work my way up there. He put in so much hard work. I’m working my way up—much respect to Errol Spence.
“Really cut the ring off and let your hands go when you get them in the corners, but it was more my fault for not cutting him off too much.
“I was kind of chasing him at times,” said Rocha on one of the mistakes he made against Cobbs. “That was my fault, as I said.
“It comes with the territory. He can his mouth and did what he had to do to sell the fight. It’s all love, nothing personal. At least for me, it’s not personal.
“I had fun during the whole thing. I was talking smack in the press conference. You guys have never heard me talk smack before, and honestly, I had fun doing that. My prayers go to him. I heard he went to the hospital,” said Rocha about Cobbs.
“Yeah, whatever my promoter [Golden Boy] has to do. If it’s Vergil [Ortiz Jr], I know him really well. He’s trying to catch his world title, and I’m trying to catch my world title, and in the future, let’s make it happen.
“[Michael] Mckinson is another opponent. He’s very good, a very good guy. I respect him in and outside of the ring. He’s very awkward and very challenging. Who knows? Maybe down the line.
“I knew he was going to come right at me, but I knew he was going to run around once he felt my power, and that’s what happened,” Rocha said about Blair.
