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Blair “The Flair” Cobbs is already a polarizing figure and it can be expected he’ll just become more of one after his exposure grows, but the 29-year-old fighter stayed undefeated tonight on the Canelo-Kovalev card, coming off the canvas to stop Carlos Ortiz after six rounds.
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Cobbs (13-0-1, 9 KO) was dropped late in the first round by Ortiz (11-5, 11 KO), who has now lost four in a row. This was meant to be a pure showcase fight, getting Cobbs in front of a bigger, more casual boxing audience, but as he often does, Cobbs probably made things tougher than they need to be. He’s an excitable fighter who often gets himself in trouble — eventually he may face someone good enough that he can’t get himself back out, but not tonight.
Ortiz didn’t really press much once the second round started, and Cobbs settled in fine, which he generally does. Once he got a bit of a rhythm established, he was able to take over against a very limited opponent. He dropped Ortiz in the sixth round, and then Ortiz complained after that frame that he couldn’t go on, pointing to various body parts.
“I took my hat off to my opponent,” Cobbs said. “He’s a tremendous athlete, he has tremendous power. I am the definition of perseverance, I am the most exciting fighter today, Blair ‘The Flair’ Cobbs.”
Cobbs wasn’t exactly warmly received by the audience in attendance post-fight, but that’s going to be par for the course for him unless he really starts winning meaningful fights. When you do that, you can make fans by being cocky and flashy and do pro wrestling promos.