On Saturday night, former WBA junior lightweight champion (130 lbs) Lamont Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) will fight top contender William Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) for the vacant WBC lightweight title, which was stripped from current WBO junior welterweight champion (140 lbs) Shakur Stevenson regarding a reported dispute over unpaid sanctioning fees. The WBC belt is up for grabs, as well as future lucrative fights for the winner.
Roach’s well-deserved claim to fame was a disputed draw with one of the faces of boxing, Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who is currently away from boxing due to legal issues. Not being able to secure a rematch with Tank, Roach moved up to challenge Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz for the interim WBC junior welterweight title (140 lbs), which resulted in another draw for Roach. This last draw did not hurt Roach's career, but unlike the Tank fight, it did not help his career either.
Regarding Roach’s opponent, William Zepeda is coming off a loss against popular boxer Shakur Stevenson last year. Zepeda fought a spirited and competitive fight against Shakur for his WBC title but came up short. So, this fight is a crossroads fight for both fighters because a win will likely advance either of their careers, while a loss will set them back before another opportunity like this arises again.
Zepeda is backed by Golden Boy Promotions, which is headed by former boxing champion turned promoter Oscar De La Hoya. Zepeda getting a second world title opportunity back-to-back after a loss to Shakur shows how much faith De La Hoya has in Zepeda.
That being said, what does Zepeda have to do on Saturday to earn a victory against Roach?
Zepeda is an all-action fighter who stalks his opponents. He is not a finesse boxer, but rather a fighter who comes forward and cuts off the ring. Zepeda must use good footwork to cut off the ring when he faces Roach. Roach is likely faster than Zepeda, so Zepeda must time Roach’s punches and not allow him to establish a rhythm. For every punch from Roach, Zepeda must land 3–4 punches to slow him down and show the judges he is the one pressing the action and landing more punches. Zepeda must outwork and overwhelm Roach.
What must Roach do to defeat Zepeda?
The blueprint to defeating Zepeda is clear in his lone defeat to Shakur Stevenson. Zepeda has difficulty with good boxers, and Roach does have the ability to box. Roach must not wait to counter Zepeda as he did in the Tank fight and the Pitbull fight, which resulted in draws or even fights. Roach must establish a good jab, throw punch combinations with bad intentions, and utilize the entire ring. He must not be baited into a brawl with Zepeda, but he must stand and fight with good defense only when necessary. Roach should not look for the knockout unless the opportunity presents itself.
This writer picks Lamont Roach to defeat William Zepeda by unanimous decision.
Boxing Notes
Last Saturday, former unified welterweight champion Errol Spence jr. returned to boxing to fight former WBO jr welterweight champion Tim Tsyzu. Many believed even though Spence had been away from boxing for 3 years he would easily knock out Tszyu. There were rumored “Big fights” proposed if he defeated Tszyu. Fights such as Spence vs Virgil Ortiz in Texas. Spence vs Jermell Charlo in Texas, or even a mega fight which was rumored Canelo vs Spence fight. Spence, who was champion at 147lbs (welterweight) had initially agreed to fight Tszyu at 158lbs only for the fight weight to be changed to 160lbs, reportedly at Spence’s request. During the fight Spence looked sluggish and did not appear as strong as he has in the past. He lost a unanimous decision to Tszyu. Spence immediately announced his retirement. This Boxing Writer wishes Spence and his family well. Tim Tszyu for his part announced he wanted to WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. His decision appears a little confusing because all the big fights that will generate millions are at 154lbs…Recent reports are Gervonta “Tank” Davis will return in March 2027. That’s 2 years since his last fight against Lamont Roach. Hopefully the March 2027 return is accurate as other reports have had Tank returning to boxing at different dates which proved to be wrong much to the dismay of fight fans.
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
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