After the Fight: Alexis Rocha’s KO may land ‘Bud’ Crawford

After the Fight: Alexis Rocha scored a devastating knockout victory but more importantly, may have punched his ticket for a fight with Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford.

Boxing had its fair share of highlight reel material this past weekend, and one of them came from 25-year-old welterweight Alexis Rocha (22-1), who earned a savage knockout over George Ashie (33-6-1). The fight began a little tactical, but Rocha turned up the heat in the third round by scoring the first knockdown of the fight. From there, Rocha never let go of the momentum, and although he was cut from a headbutt in the sixth round, Rocha scored a knockout victory with a huge right hook to the head, which sent Ashie crumbling down to the canvas almost face first. The referee immediately called a halt to the action as he knew Ashie had nothing more to offer in the fight.

When speaking to Rocha earlier and asked whether Ashie was tougher than expected, he told FanSided, “I knew he was going to be tough as those guys from Ghana come to fight. You can’t take them lightly. Every opponent is going to come in with everything to gain and nothing to lose.” That’s a solid point, but as most of us like to do with all sporting events that occur over the weekend, we like to play “Monday Morning Quarterback,” meaning people tend to point out what could have been done better. “I wouldn’t want to be in the pocket as much. If I did stay in the pocket for long, I would move my head and give more angles. Unfortunately, the lack of is what caused the headbutt, so I think I would change that,” said the Santa Anna, CA native.

After having three fights last year in which he was victorious, Rocha came into this fight with all the momentum on his side and wanted to pick up where he left off. But that wasn’t always the case as Rocha suffered his first loss back in October 2020 against then-undefeated fighter Rashidi Ellis and it seemed like the hype died down a bit when it came to Rocha’s career. Looking at the loss then and now are two completely different thoughts with Rocha. “Yea, definitely I do (looking at his loss to Ellis differently). Sometimes you need a loss to grow. Sometimes you stay complacent, keep cruising, and I think I needed the loss for a little reality check,” said Rocha. That is a mature answer and one you won’t usually get from a young contender these days.

Alexis Rocha scored a crushing knockout victory over George Ashie on DAZN.

Moving on from the fight and getting back to what was next, Oscar De La Hoya set social media on fire when he posted a photo with Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford and Bernard Hopkins over the weekend. De La Hoya added more fuel to the fire by mentioning the possibility of Rocha getting a title shot against Crawford as his next fight. Rocha told FanSided, “My job is to fight anyone they put in front of me. I want the big names, and that is what I signed up for. Since the amateurs, I went to every national tournament to be the best and fight the best. It excites me that I’m right there along with one of the big names in boxing.”

After the knockout victory, Rocha said he would be ready to take on Crawford or whoever by “late April or early May. “ Before signing off the call, Rocha had a message for the fans that have stuck with him through this journey toward a title shot in the future. “To all my day one fans, I would like to thank everyone for supporting me. It means the world to me. I do this because I love this sport, but to have fans that go and buy tickets to see me, support me and message me on Instagram, it means the world to me. “Will Rocha get his shot against ‘Bud’ this year? Only time will tell, but Crawford certainly looked comfortable in that photo, and if the money is right, something tells me we do.