It was a week full of drama for DAZN’s show at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles, and the bill topper changed during the week, with Alexis Rocha scoring a ninth round knockout win over Blair Cobbs in the rearranged main event.
The original main event was set to pit hot prospect Vergil Ortiz Jr against Portsmouth’s Michael McKinson, but Ortiz withdrew on fight week due to illness. There was then a scramble to find McKinson a replacement opponent, and thankfully he still appeared on this card, with Rocha and Cobbs taking centre stage.
Rocha (19-1, 13 KOs) came into his welterweight ten rounder with Cobbs (15-1-1, 10 KOs) only defeated once in his career, and he had won two in a row following a points defeat to Rashidi Ellis in October 2020. The latter only had one blot on his record coming in an early technical draw.
Cobbs had success early on here, landing the speedier shots, but the volume and weight of punch was definitely coming from Rocha.
It was pretty level after four rounds, but the Californian’s bigger blows were starting to take their toll, and the fifth was a torrid session for Cobbs, as the 24-year-old unloaded with three left hands that had the Philadelphian all at sea.
He bravely survived the round as more lefts rained down, and the sixth saw Rocha apply more pressure.
‘The Flair’ did stem the tide though in the seventh, and arguably shaded the round with a clean right hand landing.
Alexis Rocha put on a show tonight 👏#RochaCobbs | @autozone pic.twitter.com/J4GLmbShC0
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 20, 2022
That was as good as it got for the 32-year-old though, as he was rocked in the eighth, and then decked by a massive right hand.
He was fortunate to be allowed to continue, but the writing was firmly on the wall, with the ending coming in round nine. A right hand wobbled Cobbs once more, and a follow up attack forced the referee to jump in, giving Rocha an impressive win.
McKinson battles past Martin
Thankfully, Michael McKinson still got a slot on the bill, and he shook off his frustration by taking a ten round points win over Alex Martin (17-4, 6 KOs).
McKinson (22-0, 2 KOs) isn’t a noted puncher, so the safe bet was for the fight to go the distance, and that’s exactly how it played out, and he took the win by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93.
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Melikuziev marches on
Bektemir Melikuziev (9-1, 7 KOs) wasted little time in his light heavyweight encounter with David Zegarra (34-8, 21 KOs), as he sunk in a body shot with 30 seconds gone in the second, and Zegarra was unable to beat the count.
That one hurt 😵#RochaCobbs | @GoldenBoyBoxing pic.twitter.com/dK3Asjg5AH
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 20, 2022
Ali secures maiden stoppage
Ramla Ali (5-0, 1 KO) impressed, and notched an early win for the first time as a pro, as she stopped Shelly Barnett in two rounds at featherweight.
Barnett (5-7-2) was down twice in the opening round, and then stopped on her feet in the following frame.
All over in the second! 👊@ramlaali gets the stoppage to go 5-0 in LA 📈 #AliBarnett #RochaCobbs pic.twitter.com/N4vJqXpLQW
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) March 19, 2022
Remaining Undercard
Alex Rincon impressed, and the super welterweight moved to 10-0 (7 KOs) with a second round stoppage of Luis Midyael Sanchez (9-3, 6 KOs) in their meeting set for eight.
At super lightweight, Alejandro Reyes (7-0, 4 KOs) dropped Daniel Evangelista Jr (20-13-2, 16 KOs) in the third, on the way to a 60-51 points win across the board after six rounds and at bantamweight, John Ramirez (9-0, 7 KOs) took al six rounds against Roberto Pucheta (10-21-3, 6 KOs).
Evan Sanchez gets a knockdown with a strong right hand 🎯#RochaCobbs | @GoldenBoyBoxing | @evansanchez_98 pic.twitter.com/uVU4kUElvk
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 20, 2022
The final six rounder came at super welterweight, where Evan Anthony Sanchez (11-0, 6 KOs) knocked down Alejandro Munera (6-5-4, 5 KOs) in round four, and won every round of six.
In four round action, Miguel Gaona (2-0, 1 KO) knocked out Gilberto Aguilar (0-5) inside a round in their rematch at super lightweight, and Dalis Kaleiopu (2-0, 2 KOs) dropped Manuel Lara (2-8) three times in a fourth round win at lightweight.
