Alexis Rocha vs George Ashie Preview January 28th, 2023
Welterweight prospect Alexis Rocha of Santa Ana, California returns to the ring this Saturday, January 28th when he faces George Ashie of Accra, Ghana. The 12-rounder from Inglewood, California can be seen live in America, the UK and most other nations on DAZN. Rocha last fought in October when he beat Jesus Campos by a wide 10-round unanimous decision to retain his WBO NABO Welterweight Title. Ashie last saw action in March when he stopped Robert Quaye in the eighth round to win the vacant IBF Continental Africa Super Lightweight Title. Rocha was originally supposed to face Anthony Young but he pulled out just four days before the fight due to a nose injury.
The 25-year-old Rocha is a southpaw who enters the ring with a record of 21-1 with 13 Ko’s and has 122 rounds of pro experience under his belt since making his debut in 2016. As an amateur, Rocha became the youngest boxer to win a gold medal at the 2012 Junior Olympics when he was just 14 years old and was a six-time amateur national champion.
Rocha stands 5-feet-10-inches tall with a 70-inch reach and carries pretty good power in his fists with a current knockout ratio of 59.1 per cent. However, he’s gone the distance in his last two fights. Rocha’s lone pro defeat came at the hands of Rashidi Ellis by way of 12-round unanimous decision in October, 2020 in a shot at the vacant WBC International Welterweight Title.
Rocha captured the vacant WBC Continental Americas Welterweight Crown in March, 2018 with a first-round stoppage of Miguel Perez and successfully defended it against Shoki Sakai, Berlin Abreu, Roberto Valenzuela Jr and Brad Soloman while stopping Abreu in the eighth round and Valenzuela after five. He then won the vacant WBO NABO Welterweight Belt last July with a 10-round unanimous decision over Luis Alberto Veron and also has a ninth-round stoppage win over Blair Cobbs.
As for George Ashie, he’s 13 years older than Rocha at the age of 38 and climbs through the ropes with a mark of 33-5-1 with 25 Ko’s. He’s boxed 199 rounds since turning pro back in 2003. Unfortunately there’s no height and weight information for Ashie so we don’t know how he measures up against Rocha size-wise.
As far as power goes, Ashie is better than average as his current knockout ratio stands at 64.1 per cent and he’s stopped his last five opponents. Ashie lost his pro debut to Fuseini Ahmed on points over six rounds and was beaten by Martin Watson on points over six rounds in 2006. He also dropped decisions to Kevin Mitchell in 2006, Emmanuel Tagoe in 2012 and Stephen Ormond in 2018. His lone draw was a 10-round affair with Yakubu Amidu in 2004.
Ashie’s loss to Mitchell was for the vacant Commonwealth Super Featherweight Title and his defeat to Tagoe was a majority decision for the vacant WBA International Lightweight Belt. As a pro, Ashie has also captured the vacant UBC and vacant African Boxing Union Super Featherweight Titles as well as the vacant African Boxing Union, Commonwealth, and Ghana Boxing Authority Lightweight Titles.
Prediction…
Big things have been expected of Rocha and while he’s just 25 years old he has to beat the likes of Ashie if he ever hopes to get a title shot. He’s got the edge when it comes to age and boxing skills but Ashie shouldn’t be taken too lightly due to his chin, power and experience. There’s basically no pressure on Ashie at this stage of his career especially as he’s a late replacement and moving up in weight. If he’s relaxed in the ring he could be a bit of a problem for Rocha. I’m expecting Rocha to get past this test though and to eventually line up a bout against one of the world’s top welterweights to see just how good he is.
