Golden Boy Announced Blair Cobbs Bout As New Saturday Main Event

Having to scramble to save the main event for their Saturday night card in Los Angeles after unbeaten contender Vergil Ortiz was hospitalized, Golden Boy Promotions came has decided to promote rising prospect Blair Cobbs’ bout with Alexis Rocha to that spot.

Golden Boy publicized their decision for Cobbs-Rocha’s Wednesday night,

🚨Alexis Rocha 🆚 Blair Cobbs🚨 is set as the new Main Event on March 19, Michael McKinson will face Jesus Perez as the co-main event. pic.twitter.com/zp7iDoEBCx

— Golden Boy (@GoldenBoyBoxing) March 16, 2022

Cobbs 15-0-1, 10 KOs will battle the veteran Rocha, 18-1, 12 KOs in a 10-round welterweight bout taking place at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center in Downtown Los Angeles.

As we wrote Tuesday, the necessity of switching the main event came after Ortiz, one of the top fighters in Oscar De La Hoya’s promotion, was hospitalized with a condition called rhabdomyolysis. That is something that happens when an injury releases myoglobin into the blood. That’s serious enough to debilitate a person due to the bad protein clogging the system and can even be a fatal condition, if left untreated.

The top ranked Welterweight Ortiz has 18 straight KOs to start his career was last in the ring back in August. That’s when he defeated former world title challenger  Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskasat the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas by eighth round TKO.

His return has been eagerly anticipated for Golden Boy in their first big card of 2022.

Meanwhile, the Brit McKinson, 21-0, 2 KOS  had traveled to the U.S. last week and had been in final training in the L.A. area, when the news came of Ortiz’s situation. McKinson will now fight long time veteran Juan Carlos Salgado of Mexico. The 37 year old was scrutinized by the California commission, as he’s not fought in three years and that last bout was a KO loss to Vergil Ortiz.

The commission eventually cleared Salgado to participate in the bout that will now be the co-feature on the DAZN streaming show Saturday night starting at 9 p.m. Eastern.