Photo: David Martin-Warr / DKP.
“It’s not over yet.”
This three-word phrase was a way of life for Blair Cobbs, and he repeated it after his last victory. The boisterous welterweight quickly took the lead heading into the finish with a ten-round decision victory over former four-division champion Adrien Broner. The scores were 97-92, 96-93 and 96-93 for Cobbs in the Triller TV Pay-Per-View main event on Friday night at the Seminole Challenging Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Broner vowed to fight his modern hunger, but immediately returned to his elderly form when the opening bell sounded. Cobbs was able to play the first round purely on activity because Broner rarely threw catches.
Cobbs caused the lone knockdown of the fight early in the second. A right hook was followed by a straight left to send Broner to the canvas. He also managed to knock a tooth out of a Cincinnati, Ohio resident’s mouth.
This sequence prompted Broner to lower his hands, meaning he was actually throwing punches. From there, the action picked up for the rest of the round, although Cobbs continued to land more telling punches.
Broner quickly returned to one punch at a time, and often even fewer.
Meanwhile, Cobbs moved around the ring to taunt Broner and set up his combinations. The left hand continued to land for the Las Vegas southpaw, who also consistently landed his jab midway through the fight.
In the second half of the fight, Broner slowly gained momentum. By this point, however, Cobbs already had a significant advantage.
Broner’s uppercut landed, as did his right hands in a thrilling sixth round. Cobbs turned the game around in round seven with a combination. Enough shots were fired to dislodge Broner’s mouthpiece, which was a recurring theme throughout the fight.
Broner closed out strongly in the final three rounds. Cobbs was still the more busy boxer, but had to move more and punch less, while Broner fought desperately to make up for the early deficit and secure a knockout finish.
In the final round, Broner cobbs forced Cobbs into the corner when he couldn’t pin down his flashy opponent. Cobbs was never phased, even when he ate a right hand and a final left hook in the closing seconds.
Cobbs moves to 17-1-1 (10 knockouts). The victory was his second in a row, although spread over two years. His last fight was in August 2022, when he won a fight in Fort Worth, Texas against former 140-pound champion Maurice Hooker. This fight put him back in the win column after his March 2022 knockout loss to Alexis “Lex” Rocha (24-2, 16 KO). It was also his last contract with Golden Boy Promotions – and anywhere until he secured this opportunity.
Cobbs had previously signed with Don King Productions specifically to land this fight.
“One of the topics on my message board is… the Adrien Broner fight,” Cobbs said after the win.
Broner dropped to 35-5-1 (24 KO). The victory ended a two-fight winning streak for the former 130-, 135-, 140- and 147-pound champion, who turns 35 in July. He has had just three fights since his January 2019 loss to eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao, and Friday’s fight was his first fight since his victory over Bill Hutchinson on June 10 in Miami.
Meanwhile, life goes on for Cobbs, who was a realist in his post-fight keynotes. He didn’t expect a title fight would be next, but he would love to get one of the biggest names in the sport.
“I saw something on Instagram. “Ryan Garcia was rooting for ‘AB,’” Cobbs noted. “It was painful because I thought we were boys. But get your girlfriend out of your DMs.
“It’s my time, it’s Blair “The Flair” Cobbs, the most invigorating man in boxing and the people’s champion. Solicit!”
The show also featured second-generation heavyweight Michael Hunter II (23-1-2, 16 KO) over a reluctant Cassius Chaney (23-2, 16 KO). The scores of all three cards were 100-90 for Hunter, the only one who bothered to be involved in most of their numb affair.
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