- Resurging welterweight
Alexis Rocha returns to the ring Saturday againstBlair Cobbs . - The fighter spent five weeks sparring and training alongside Manny Pacquiao last year.
LOS ANGELES — The 23-year-old boxer Alexis Rocha was once "starstruck" when sparring with former eight-weight
Rocha trained alongside Pacquiao as the veteran trained to fight Errol Spence Jr., before the undefeated American sensation eventually withdrew from the bout due to a retinal tear in his left eye.
A rising southpaw phenom at the time, Rocha spent five weeks at the famed Wildcard Boxing Club in central Hollywood last year.
In the fourth week, Rocha wanted to get a memento to remember his time with one of boxing's greatest combatants.
"I went to give him a poster that I took, of me and him, after sparring. We had our gear on. It is on my Instagram. I printed it out, and I give it to him to sign and he's like, 'Oh wow,' so he signs it," Rocha told Insider this week.
Pacquiao saw that Rocha had a second printout of the same picture, and so he asked Rocha to sign that one.
Rocha was confused at the request. "Can I sign it?" he asked Pacquiao, who said yes.
Pacquiao then thanked Rocha, put the autographed picture in his bag, and kept it — a memento of his own.
Rocha says he learned a lot from training with Pacquiao.
"It's crazy, the aura that he carries," Rocha told us. "He's literally an icon, a living legend.
"My first day when I walked in, there was around 40 people in the room — and it's a small room. Wildcard is very small. And I saw this bench, which was cleared with like 15 of his people, people were standing up.
"I couldn't really warm-up. I had to like go in the back, a small space, warm-up and stretch out, because it was really crowded in there.
"But once you walk in, it's like, everyone almost bowed down. They were like, 'He's here!' Clapping."
He continued: "Manny Pacquiao is such a nice guy, an extremely hard worker, and I admire him for everything he's done in the sport. To this day, he's still so humble."
On what fighters can learn from Pacquiao, Rocha said: "He's just so relaxed. I feel like every fighter should be like that. Be relaxed, have fun with it, and enjoy the whole process.
"When I saw Manny Pacquiao, he was enjoying the entire process, and he's been doing it for 25 years professionally, maybe more. You need to have fun in this sport."
Rocha hopes to have fun in the Golden Boy Promotions main event Saturday, on DAZN
Rocha returns to the ring for a fight of his own Saturday against Blair Cobbs at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Their welterweight contest was originally scheduled to provide chief support to Vergil Ortiz Jr.'s bout against Michael McKinson in the same weight class.
However, Ortiz withdrew from the show after spending a night this week in the hospital with rhabdomyolysis, and so the Cobbs-Rocha bout was promoted to main event status.
Riding the high of back-to-back knockout wins means "momentum is there" for Rocha, who is aware Cobbs is an "undefeated, good, and strong opponent."
But Rocha says he is feeling ready and learned a valuable lesson from the sole loss of his career — sustained in 2020, when he came unstuck on points to Rashidi Ellis.
That lesson was to become unburdened by pressure, to throw caution to the wind, and always let his punches fly.
"I hate losing," Rocha said. "But once you have that mentality of not wanting to lose, of being cautious in there, it shows in the ring.
"It showed through the whole night by not letting my hands go [against Ellis]. So what I learned from it was to believe in myself, follow my heart, and not hold back, really."
So, is the pressure off in a potentially high-pressure fight, atop the Golden Boy Promotions on DAZN event Saturday?
"Definitely," he said. "I feel like I've been having a lot more fun, and I'm looking to have fun Saturday night."
The DAZN broadcast begins 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.