Blair ‘The Flair’ Cobbs is putting the weight on his shoulders to rescue boxing from further investing into the sideshow aspect.

The unbeaten welterweight prospect carried that mentality into his latest performance, a sensational fifth-round stoppage of veteran trialhorse Brad Solomon. Cobbs picked up his best win to date in the process, in the opening bout of a DAZN quadrupleheader last month from UTEP’s Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

“Blair The Flair always captivates the crowd,” Cobbs told BoxingScene.com. “It took me incredibly too long to be noticed, to be discovered. There is plenty of the talent out there that goes unseen. I’m going to continue to give the people performances like this to make sure they remember me and forget about those YouTubers who continue to disrespect our beautiful sport.”

Cobbs refers to the recent infiltration of social media personalities who have taken to the sport, as well as long-ago retired fighters embarking on comeback tours. The Paul brothers—Jake (3-0, 3KOs) and Logan (0-1)—are the most prominent of the lot, their events commanding more attention than nearly everyone else in the sport, including those like Cobbs who have developed the right way.

Joining the lot is Oscar De La Hoya, the Hall of Fame former six-division and founder of Golden Boy Promotions for whom Cobbs currently fights. De La Hoya will face former UFC champion Vitor Belfort in a boxing exhibition set for September 11 at a Las Vegas venue to be determined.

“I look forward to seeing what boss man can do one more time,” Cobbs admits, though with caution. “I’m interested… but to be honest, I’m also tired of seeing these old fighters getting in there. Between these retired guys and the YouTubers—at first, it was fun. It’s something that’s drawing a different type of fanbase but it’s getting ridiculous and disrespectful.

“Boxing is to blame, though. This is what happens when we stop developing mega superstars. We allow these guys to come in and steal the spotlight. It’s wrong but it’s going to be up to the next mega superstar to shut all that down.”

The entertaining win over Solomon (29-4, 9KOs) was a step in the right direction in terms of advancing from prospect to rising contender. There is still a long way to go for the unbeaten southpaw from Las Vegas by way of Philadelphia. That said, Cobbs’ performance stood tall on a loaded day and night of boxing that included three more entertaining bouts on the same show following his DAZN-aired opener.

It was a goal of Cobbs to steal the show from headlining act Jaime Munguia (36-0, 29KOs), who blew away former middleweight title challenger Kamil Szeremeta inside of six rounds. It’s more of a statement by Munguia that both performances resonated with fans, as did Gabriel Rosado’s stunning third-round knockout of unbeaten Bektemir Meikuziev along with Marlen Esparza’s off-the-canvas WBC flyweight title win over Mexico’s Ibeth Zamora in their furiously paced ten-round title fight.

The good news for Cobbs is that his breakthrough win on Saturday provides his team with the confidence to continue to invest in his future. The welterweight southpaw insists he is ready for the best that the loaded division has to offer, although reality suggests lining up a contender or even a former titlist before diving all the way into the deep end.

Whatever is next in store, Cobbs vows to be ready—as he puts it, for the sake of the sport’s future.

“The only way to shut down the nonsense is for someone to step up and carry the sport on their shoulders. I’m ready to be that guy,” claims Cobbs. “So, let Oscar have his fun in September. After that, let Blair The Flair go destroy Errol Spence. Let Blair The Flair destroy Terence Crawford and become the next mega superstar that boxing needs.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox