Blair Cobbs is not Impressed with Vergil Ortiz
On March 19, welterweight fighter Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (15-0-1, 10 KO’s) has a fight with Alexis Rocha. With this being the case, Cobbs has been providing his routine interviews with the press. During the course of these interviews, Flair has had a great deal to say about his fellow fighters such as IBF and WBC 147-pound champion Errol Spence Jr, Jaron Ennis, Tank Davis and even the much-discussed contender Vergil Ortiz (18-0, 18 KO’s).
In somewhat ironic fashion, Cobbs viewed a potential showdown with Ortiz as being boring and pointless. This is ironic, because it’s actually Ortiz who will be headlining the card against Michael McKinson while Flair will duel with Rocha on the undercard. The statement is made even more quizzical when you realize that Cobbs is not to be found anywhere on the four major sanctioning bodies’ top 15 rankings.
At the same time, Ortiz is on all four as he is ranked #1 (WBO), #1 (WBC), #2 (WBA) and #4 (IBF). If nothing else, you would think that Flair would want this match simply to get a shot at usurping those rankings. This is not the case though.
“I don’t care to fight Vergil Ortiz, he hasn’t really fought anybody. And then once I beat him, they’ll be like, ‘okay, he never fought nobody, so who are you?’ I am tired of these type of fights because I am proving myself over and over and over again. How many real tests have Ortiz been through that people actually thought he was going to lose?”
ZERO ROOM FOR ERROR!
Many would find the above statement rather puzzling. For example, in his last two matches, Ortiz fought Maurice Hooker and Egidijus Kavaliauskas who most would say are more impressive than anyone one on Cobbs’ resume. To approach this from a different angle, both Cobbs and Ortiz are promoted by Golden Boy. Due to this, one would assume that this should be an easy fight to make.
Given that reality, it’s somewhat of a mystery why Flair would not be screaming for this fight. Especially if he feels like Ortiz would be easy work. Whether he likes it or not, there is no question that Ortiz is getting the much greater push and has received far greater attention from the media, fans and his own promotional outfit. In fact, at one point there was real interest in seeing Ortiz go head-to-head with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
Outside of his trainer, cut man and mother, no one has dreamed up a fight between Cobbs and any of the three belt-carrying champions. So, it will definitely be revealing to see how Blair “The Flair” Cobbs handles the challenge of Alexis Rocha. One thing is for certain though, he has absolutely no room for a bad performance! Yet, regardless of how the bout resolves itself, 3Kings Boxing will be there to report the news!
Reading Time: 3 minutes
By: Bakari Simpson
