Blair Cobbs continued with his criticism of IBF/WBC welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. on Thursday after his final press conference for his headliner against Alexis Roach on Saturday night.t:
(Photo credit: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy)
Cobbs (15-0-1, 10 KOs) says Spence has shown cowardice for his failure to take on WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford all this time, and he deserves all the blame.
Blair sees it as a weakness on Spence’s part that he chose to take a shot at him by calling him a 33-year-old prospect.
Rather than addressing the comments Cobbs had made about Spence about him not being the fighter he once was, and lacking the courage to fight Crawford, Errol changed the frame by calling him a 33-year-old prospect.
Blair has a fought fight on his hands this Saturday against Rocha (18-1, 12 KOs) on DAZN at the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles. That fight had originally been scheduled for the co-feature spot on the Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Michael McKinson card.
However, Vergil Jr pulled out of the fight this weak due to a medical problem.
Cobbs sees Spence as deflecting criticism
“Yeah, I saw it. I think it’s strange that people haven’t noticed the fact that it was so much easier to attack me than to deny what I’m saying,” said Blair Cobbs to Fight Hub TV about Errol Spence in reacting to his comments to the media about him.
“I’m in there hitting the good stuff, reaching in there with his heart, pulling out all of that. I see what he is and he can’t hide from the great one,” Cobbs continued with his lecturing about Spence lacking courage.
“I’m just calling it what it is. It’s the truth. He called himself ‘The Truth,’ but he’s not going to deny the truth. So, the best thing to do is to say, ‘Oh, what about you?'” said Cobbs in making it clear that Spence is trying to deflect criticism by attacking Blair back rather than confronting the reality of what he’s saying.
“I think that’s a cowardly move. What about you? But what about me? I’ve been through all kinds of adversity already. I’ve been through my trials and tribulations just to come back and bounce back. I’m ready to put on another shows yet again.
“I just feel that Errol doesn’t have the same kind of confidence that he once had,” said Cobbs when asked who wins the April 16th fight between Spence and Yordenis Ugas.
“He’s going through many layers of bad things, as in, he gets hurt this, he gets hurt that. Is he going to survive camp because surviving camp is hard,” Cobbs said of Errol.
“Surviving sparring is hard, surviving strength & conditioning is hard,” Cobbs continues. “Just look what happened with this fight with [Vergil] Ortiz. Just surviving camp might be too hard for him [Spence].
The only thing Spence can do to prove Cobbs wrong is to fight Crawford later this year, as long as he defeats WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas on April 16th.
Spence has been talking a lot about Keith Thurman, which makes some fans believe that he’s going to be his next opponent rather than Crawford.
Blair questions Errol’s heart & dedication
“He’s definitely going to have to scale it down. Is he going to be prepared for a 12 round war against somebody that can possibly beat him? Ugas isn’t going in there [to lay down]. He wants to win, and he’s on a roll right now.
“From the outside looking in, stylistically, Errol Spence is supposed to win. But from the outside looking in, seeing the heart between the two guys, I think Ugas might pull it off. It would be something.
“Something stupid might happen and all of a sudden, he’ll mess around and win. That’s what I see so far. It’s a possibility.
“Yeah, absolutely,” said Cobbs when asked if he questions Spence’s heart. “I question his heart and I question his dedication and I question like how much more is it going to take for him to get back to where he was.
“The fans want to see Terence Crawford. Why is that not happening? I cannot say that’s not happening because of Terence Crawford. Without a doubt, I just can’t say that,” Cobbs said.
Spence might not make it through training camp for the Ugas fight because he recently had eye surgery. Making it through a full camp without a setback could prove difficult for Errol.
Cobbs ready for Alexis Rocha
“It’s a** whooping time. Blair The Flair is the main event, and the most exciting man is the main attraction. Let’s go,” said Cobbs.
“I hope he can get himself back together and is healthy and well enough to fight again,” said Blair when asked about his thoughts on Vergil Ortiz Jr pulling out of the main event match due to health problems.
“It also brought up other thoughts in my mind about what’s going on in that training camp? What are you doing in camp that pushes you to that limit to the point where that happens?
“That sounds like he’s doing very dangerous things and it brings up ideas. With that being said, I’ve seen a lot of top-notch fighters training unbelievably hard, and it never gets to that point.
“So how did you get to that point is the big question. My conclusion is hopefully, he gets better, he gets well. I’d love to see him move on to bigger and better things, possibly even fighting the great one, me, Blair the Flair. That’s all I have to say about that.
“I’m an all-around professional athlete and I’m more seasoned than ever. I’m on the next level, and I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t have to run from nobody at this point.
“Alexis, he can say he can throw his big shots, but he’s not stronger than Blair The Flair. Is he fast? He’s not faster than Blair The Flair. He’s not smarter than Blair The Flair.
“So, he’s in there with an elite athlete. Let’s see if he can be in that fire with me,” said Cobbs about his opponent Rocha.