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Blair Cobbs first learned to box in Mexico, where he and his sister fled with their father, one of the FBI’s Most Wanted.

Eugene Cobbs escaped with his children to Mexico in 2004, after crashing a private plane at the Wheeling Ohio County Airport in West Virginia. He fled the scene and left behind 525 pounds of cocaine worth $24 million, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

That led U.S. marshals on a manhunt that ended in Mexico, where Cobbs had brought his two teenage children.

Now 29, Blair Cobbs is among the hottest prospects in boxing. He’ll carry his 11-0-1 (seven knockouts) record into the co-main event of Golden Boy Promotion’s fight card Thursday, Aug. 22, at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio.

“It’s like a dream come true,” Cobbs said. “It’s truly just an honor and a blessing to be alive."

He’ll fight fellow unbeaten welterweight Steve Villalobos (11-0-1, 9 KOs) in a bout that some in the sport believe could take him a step closer to a high-stakes main event bout later this year or sometime in 2020.

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Cobbs started to box in Guadalajara, where he lived with his father and sister from 2004-07, from age 15 to 18. He described the difficulty of that period as something few could ever understand.

“I had to flee, too,” Cobbs recalls. “It was, like, prepare to die. You could die the very next day. You could die any day of the week and nobody would know, and nobody would care. And I had to survive that.”

His life was all about keeping a low profile, he says, not getting into any trouble and making sure that he, his father and sister maintained their freedom. While his dad was trying to move on with his life, Cobbs and his sister couldn’t move on with theirs.

Eventually, Cobbs discovered a boxing gym and the existence he had there became his life.

“In Mexico, boxing saved my life,” Cobbs said. “I didn’t live outside the gym. If I left the gym, that meant life was over. Then I’d have to wait until tomorrow to live again.”

'I couldn’t get a fight'

Cobbs never lost a bout as an amateur in Mexico. His 5-foot-11 height and his long reach, natural athleticism and unorthodox style made him difficult for opponents to figure out. He was fast and powerful, and fought with an unbridled emotion that served as a release from his daily existence.

After his dad’s capture in 2007, Cobbs moved to New York, then back to Philadelphia, the city where he was born. He had no money, no resources and knew no one in the local boxing scene. No one gave him any sort of chance as a professional.

Cobbs was able to make “a few dollars” to make his pro debut June 28, 2013 in front of a few dozen in a middle-of-nowhere roadhouse off Route 29 in North Carolina. He won by knockout.

He had three more fights between there and a couple of tiny clubs in Mexico before his career came to a grinding halt.

“I couldn’t get a fight, no matter what,” Cobbs recalls. “No matter who, no matter what, nobody would fight me.”

He described the hiatus as a tough experience to be in considering he was in his mid-20s, in the best physical shape of his life but unable to get a fight. He came to understand that he couldn’t proceed on his own. He needed a team of people and a lot of money to realize his dream as a professional athlete.

So, he packed a single bag and moved to Las Vegas, where, like many success stories, the journey began with just a few dollars in a back pocket.

To Las Vegas

He arrived in Vegas and connected with Clarence “Bones” Adams, a former WBA world bantamweight champion who, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had served six months in prison in 2015 on charges of drug trafficking, fraud and prostitution.

While serving his time, he had met Cobbs' cousin, who had told Adams that he needed to consider training the young boxer when he got out.

Cobbs and Adams finally met at the gym, and “Bones” noticed something immediately.

“This kid, he’s something special,” Adams said. “He wasn’t like a normal boxer. He has that awkwardness.”

Adams could relate to what Cobbs had been through. They both had a rough upbringing, with little money and crime all around them. They soon formed a father-son relationship.

“We were both at amateur tournaments eating Snickers and Mountain Dew just to survive and have the energy to fight," Adams said. “That’s why we connected and bonded so well.”

Adams felt so strongly about Cobbs, who worked as a security guard until his career took off, that he recruited his former trainer, Brandon Woods, to move back to Las Vegas to help train his young prospect. He wanted to give Cobbs that support system he had when he won a world title.

With their help and a team built around him, Cobbs won three bouts in 2017, then two more in 2018 before he was named Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame prospect of the year. He signed with Golden Boy Promotions and then won the NABF junior welterweight championship.

A Dream Come True

Woods and Adams like Cobbs' chances to make an even bigger splash in the sport because of his background and because he’s already made considerable strides over the last two years.

“Blair is articulate, he’s very smart, he understands it,” Woods said. “It’s just a matter of slowing him down a bit. He wants to go too fast, but in range, he’s all business.”

Woods said that Cobbs has rare athletic ability for a boxer and that what has made him so difficult in the ring over the last two years is how hard he works in the gym and how much he wants to be great.

Cobbs said fight fans have “only seen about 25 percent” of what he’s capable of doing in the ring. He has aspirations to claim all the championship belts in the welterweight division and one day even perhaps move to middleweight, where he would love to fight unified middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, the sport’s biggest money maker.

But he’s not trying to get too ahead of himself. He acknowledges that Thursday’s match with Villalobos will be tough, and that it’s all he’s focused on right now.

Every so often, he considers what got him here, how fleeing to Mexico with his dad and sister set the course for his fight career. He said it taught him to persevere through every kind of hardship and how one’s luck can change on a dime.

Now, he’s just enjoying every moment he gets to truly live.

“Over time, I just felt, ‘This is what I want to do.’" Cobbs said. "I made that decision and I never looked back.”

Andrew John covers boxing in the Coachella Valley and beyond for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com