By Miguel Maravilla and Rocky Morales at ringside

Welterweight Alexis “Lex” Rocha (19-1, 13 KOs) battered and stopped previously unbeaten Blair “The Flair” Cobbs (15-1-1, 10 KOs) in round nine on Saturday night at the USA Gelen Center in downtown Los Angeles. Rocha broke down Cobbs, dropping him in round eight and getting a referee’s stoppage in round nine.

Cobbs came out jabbing and circling as Rocha stalked and popped the jab to begin the fight. Rocha appeared to be on the receiving end of a clash as his right eye began to swell. In round two, Rocha connected with straight lefts followed by short rights as Cobbs popping the jab was on the receiving end of those snapping punches. The short right hand kept landing for Rocha and he continued to back Cobbs in the third, but Cobbs began to get some rhythm. The pressure continued from Rocha, and he kept landing as Cobbs circled.

Rocha staggered Cobbs in the fifth round with a left and stood on top of him attacking patiently, Cobbs managed to survive. In the sixth, Rocha attacked as Cobbs bounced around and was on the receiving end of Rocha’s punches. Continuing to stay on top of Cobbs in the seventh, Rocha pressured as Cobbs began letting his hands go connecting effectively. A right hand in the eighth by Rocha dropped Cobbs. Rocha remained poised stalking and closed the round cornering, Cobbs.

Rocha continued where he left off backing up Cobbs and finishing him in the ninth as the referee stepped in to stop the fight at 44 seconds.

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In a fight that was mostly painful to watch, WBO #4 ranked welterweight, Michael “The Problem” McKinson (22-0, 2KO) won a wide unanimous decision victory over late replacement, Alex Martin (17-4 6KO) in a 10 round welterweight co-main event. McKinson was originally slated to meet undefeated WBO #1 ranked Vergil Ortiz Jr. but that fell through with Ortiz Jr. hospitalized earlier this week with rhabdomyolysis.

So, instead of watching Ortiz Jr., the 90% Latino L.A. crowd was now watching a British boxer with no power against a late replacement from Chicago that had little more power. The most interesting part of the fight happened in round eight when a fight in the stands erupted, one person was escorted out and then dozens of fans left their seats and ran up the stairs to join the extracurricular activities.

The actual fight in the ring resembled a 10 round sparring contest with Martin unwilling to engage with McKinson despite McKinson’s less than 10% knockout ratio. By the middle rounds, the crowd was routinely booing, particularly to end each round. This is where a John Molina Jr. or Joselito Lopez type replacement fighter could have saved this fight but Martin was content to go ten rounds with as few meaningful exchanges as possible. Even when Martin threw punches, they seemed to lack conviction and McKinson might not crack an egg so that didn’t make for compelling edge-of-the-seat action.

The judges scored the bout all in favor of McKinson by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93. Fans mostly booed the decision not out of disagreement but rather as a reminder of what they thought of the fight.

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Light heavyweight Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (9-1, 7KO) made short work of sacrificial offering, David Zegarra (34-8, 21KO) stopping him at just 0:30 of the second round. After a very slow opening round that brought out the boo birds, Melikuziev wasted little time in the second round. In an exchange, Zegarra went down to his knees wincing in pain from a perfectly placed body shot. Zegarra was counted out by the referee and making no attempt to continue.

Melikuziev is now on a two-fight winning streak since his shock knockout loss to Gabe Rosado last June. Zegarra came and did what he was supposed to do, lose, and drops his fourth straight after 2021 losses to each Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Ali Akhmedov and David Lemieux.

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Parlier, California welterweight Evan Sanchez (11-0, 6 KOs) and Alejandro Munera (6-5-4, 5 KOs) from Medellin, Colombia went the distance as Sanchez won a unanimous decision in opening the DAZN stream. Sanchez and Munera did not hold back trading shots in the opening round. Munera fought awkwardly as the southpaw Sanchez threw and connected with straight punches in round two as they continued to trade. It continued to be street fight in round three with Sanchez keeping his distance landing his shots and Munera connecting with the hard punches.

In the fourth round, a right hook by Sanchez dropped Munera as he got up, shortly after Sanchez stumbled and slipped to finish the round. Sanchez and Munera continued to exchange late in the fight, the sixth and final round saw the two fighters staying close trading away.

All three judges scored the bout 60-53 in favor of Sanchez.

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6’2” southpaw super welterweight, Alex Rincon (10-0, 7KO), impressively stopped Luis Sanchez (9-3, 6KO) at 1:44 of the second round of a scheduled eight round super welterweight bout. Rincon floored Sanchez with a hard right hook and Sanchez got up on unsteady legs before he was floored again with another right hook. The referee waved off the fight with Sanchez in no condition to continue.

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Local undefeated bantamweight John “Scrappy” Ramirez (9-0,7 KOs) of Los Angeles won a one-sided decision over Roberto “Escorpion” Pucheta (10-21-3, 6 KOa) of Jalisco, Mexico. Fighting at a fast pace, Ramirez came out shooting the jab and countering in the opening round. Ramirez came out attacking in round two, connecting solidly with the right fighting flashy as he circled Pucheta. In the third, Ramirez backed Pucheta to the ropes continuing to attack and outwork him.

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Halfway through the fight in the fourth, Ramirez kept at it letting his hands go. The right-hand kept landing for Ramirez in the fifth as he countered, snapping Pucheta’s head. Finishing strong, Ramirez stayed busy touching up Pucheta mixing it up as he worked his way to the unanimous decision. All three judges scored the bout 60-54.

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Unbeaten super lightweight Alejandro Reyes (7-0, 4KO) won a unanimous decision victory in an ugly and foul filled fight against journeyman Daniel Evangelista Jr (20-13-2, 16KO). Evangelina tasted the canvas in the third round, courtesy of consecutive eight crosses that landed on his jaw. Evangelista was also deducted one point for hitting behind the head and a second point for torqueing Reyes’ arm during a clinch/break. Judges scored it identically, 60-51, all in favor of Reyes, in a scheduled six round contest.

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In the opening bout from the Galen Center at the campus of USC in downtown Los Angeles, London female super bantamweight Ramla Ali (5-0, 1 KO) scored a second round knockout over Toronto’s Shelly Barnett (5-7-2).

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In a scheduled four round lightweight bout, Dalis Kaleiopu (2-0, 2KO) proved to pack quite the Hawaiian Punch, flooring overmatched Manuel Lara (2-8) early in the bout before stopping him with another knockdown at 2:15 of the fourth round. Kaleiopu hails from Waianae, HI, and is a 23-year-old amateur standout signed to Golden Boy Promotions two years ago.

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Lightweight prospect Miguel Gaona (2-0, 2 KO’s) of Los Angeles made quick work of Mexico City’s Gilberto Aguilar (0-5). A body shot did it as the referee reached a ten count at 30 seconds of the first round.