Charismatic fighter Blair Cobbs looks to instigate a boxing rivalry with fellow American Jaron Ennis
- Blair Cobbs is critical of fellow Philadelphia fighter Jaron Ennis.
- For Cobbs, Ennis hasn't faced a real challenge. Cobbs wants to change that by fighting him next.
LOS ANGELES — Charismatic fighter Blair Cobbs is looking to instigate a boxing rivalry with Jaron Ennis.
Cobbs returns to the ring Saturday for a welterweight fight with Alexis Rocha at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.
The bout was supposed to provide chief support to Vergil Ortiz Jr.'s match against Michael McKinson. But when Ortiz Jr. was hospitalized this week with rhabdomyolysis and withdrew from the show, Cobbs and Rocha were promoted to the main event.
The way DAZN boxer Cobbs talks, it will be the first main event of many.
Ennis is a knockout puncher impressing fans on Showtime, but he may well get in Cobbs' way, as the 32-year-old hunts championships and stardom.
Cobbs confronted his fellow Philadelphia native at a boxing event last October. And has spoken about the fear he sensed in Ennis that day ever since.
"The idea that Blair 'The Flair' still exists haunts people like Ennis, why? Because before Ennis was anything, they looked up to me, and I was destroying Philadelphia in a dramatic fashion," Cobbs told Insider this week.
"And so just the fact that I still exist, is a big problem. Because he might not be seeing those world titles for a little bit, until Blair 'The Flair' is finished. It's just what it is."
Ennis fights Rocha atop the Golden Boy Promotions card this weekend and is envisioning victory before securing world title bouts, and star-making fights.
Fighters like Ennis, Cobbs argues, aren't seemingly interested in fighting 'real competition'
"I got my targets on 'championship status' and 'make a star status,' and if they [Ennis] happen to get in the way, I will situate their career right real quick," Cobbs said.
"The thing is, he's acting as if he's so much better, and everything like that. What happens when I pass him up? That can happen real fast. And then Blair 'The Flair' is a star.
"Like, you don't sell tickets. Blair 'The Flair' sells tickets. You're not a star. Blair 'The Flair' is a star. And I came to you, like a man, in front of all your fans, and called you out," Cobbs continued.
"Why? Because you really didn't face anybody. You ain't faced no real competition. And he's like, not now? So when will it be good for you to face real competition? When you're already fighting for a world title?
"I think people are too caught up on, one, being undefeated, and two, not facing any real opposition until, finally, they get to a world title."
Cobbs fights Rocha on a DAZN broadcast that begins Saturday at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT.