William “El Camarón” Zepeda vs Lamont “The Reaper” Roach fight preview
William Zepeda vs Lamont Roach WBC special preview
WBC #1 “El Camarón” locks horns with WBC #2 “The Reaper” for the vacant lightweight crown
Mexico's William “El Camarón” Zepeda Segura (33-1, 27 KOs) fights American Lamont “The Reaper” Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) on Saturday, August 1st at The Theater at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas for the vacant WBC World lightweight championship, live on DAZN.
The main event pits the no.1 and 2 in the lightweight division against each other, making the winner an absolute champion of the WBC 135 division. For the winner, unification fights with WBO ruler Abdullah Mason and IBF king Raymond Muratalla lie in wait.
But first, one must prevail this weekend in Sin City. Roach has endured two draws in a row, with Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz, so his frustration is high, and Zepeda Segura is aiming to bounce back from his first career defeat.
Ladies and gentleman, we have a fight!
William Zepeda
WBC #1 Lightweight
WBC Interim Lightweight 2024 – 2025
Continental Americas Lightweight 2021
WBC Fecarbox Lightweight 2019
Lamont Roach
WBC #2 Lightweight
World Super Featherweight 2023-2024
North American Super Featherweight 2021
WBC Youth Super Featherweight 2017
Stats
William Zepeda has had 6 fights against USA fighters. He has won 5 and lost 1.
Lamont Roach has fought against 7 Mexican fighters. He has won 6 times and drawn 1.
The only common opponent they have faced is René Alvarado. Both defeated him by Unanimous Decision over 10 rounds.
Zepeda vs Roach Fight Preview
By James Blears
The prestigious WBC lightweight title is vacant, and there is a hawkish matchup made for the available crown, blending an all-out attacking fighter versus a crafty, stealthy counter-puncher, therefore providing a guaranteed epic classic emerging from this intruiging encounter.
William “El Camarón” Zepeda fights Lamont “The Reaper” Roach this Saturday, August 1st at The Theater at Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas, and the winner will hold aloft the famed Green and Gold Belt.
They have a fantastic tradition to live up to and follow: Benny Leonard in the good old days, plus the legendary Roberto Durán and Alexis Argüello in the modern era. Yet, both need to make significant adjustments during the tune-up to this fight in their quest for victory.
Washington's Lamont is a master craftsman counter-puncher who has been in with the very best and has always given a good account of himself, often proving the critics wrong.
A patient, diligent, intelligent, and accomplished technician with a sound, well-tutored defence, he has already been a super-featherweight world champion and has built a 25-1-3 (10 KOs) record.
He says he wants William—who seeks to be his conqueror with a punch rate that can exceed 90 per round—to rigidly stick and adhere to his abiding onslaught style, as he is preparing for its predictable inevitability, commenting, “Camarón is very consistent. He doesn’t really change. It’s worked well for him, and he’s overwhelmed a lot of guys. He’s always on the attack and he’s fierce. But… he can’t steer off his overall gameplan, so I’ll try to capitalize on that as much as I can, via opportunities.”
In a “Just William” observation, Zepeda himself is also well-versed about his opponent, saying: “He’s always patiently waiting to land his best punches, so I can’t lose focus.” Accordingly, he’s planning to be the man-eater in The Theater. His record is 33-1 (27 KOs). He’s a volume puncher and an unrelenting, formidable foe in the ring. Also aged thirty, William steadily progressed up the ranks while learning his trade—almost blacksmith style—via plenty of furnace hammering.
The San Mateo man won the vacant WBC Fecarbox Silver lightweight title with a TKO in the 10th and final round, stopping Eliot Chávez. A first successful defence stopping José Rosales in eight, then four more victories, and on to the challenge for a regional title against opponent Héctor Tanajara, who didn’t come out for the seventh round.
The biggest prize and the most difficult path to reach, it finally culminated with a title fight against the silky-skilled, evasive fellow southpaw and former WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, who outsmarted William “Camarón” Zepeda.
Shakur landed 295 punches while William impacted with a worthy 272. Shakur landed 96 jabs and 199 power punches. William landed 119 jabs and 153 power punches.
Zepeda’s biggest moment came in round three when his searing right southpaw lead momentarily wobbled P4P great, Shakur, and visibly hurt him. For an instant that seemed to last longer, the fulcrum of equilibrium was scrambled. But the experienced four-weight world champion steadied himself and regrouped. His uppercuts, hand speed, and accuracy turned the tide the longer the fight went on, and Shakur won a wide unanimous decision. Towards the latter part of the 120 rounds, Zepeda was tiring, slowing, and becoming an easier target.
For this upcoming fight, his trainer Jay “Panda” Najar needs to vary the variety of his punches and tighten his defence by making his attack more subtle and his defence more flexibly elusive. Lamont Roach awaits the onslaught and will try to pick him off; so, less volume but better-placed punches, especially his vaunted left hook.
Rocky Marciano’s brilliantly sage, bowler-hatted trainer Charley Goldman—who himself had been a talented bantamweight, later hampered by broken hands buckled by arthritis—introduced a subtlety, polishing the rock. Peering through his pebble horn-rimmed glasses, he taught him to fight out of a crouch, advising that a taller fighter should strive to make himself loftier, while a short fighter with short arms should become smaller and more elusive while springing upwards with hard-handed surprises.
Along the way, Zepeda has indeed improved. Prior to fighting Shakur and earning that opportunity, he fought teak-tough Tevin Farmer in Riyadh for the WBC Interim belt, which he won via split decision, and then further bettered and battered him to win the rematch by a majority decision.
Reap as you sow, Lamont has served a comprehensive apprenticeship to get to where he is today. He won the vacant WBC Youth Silver super-featherweight title within the first two minutes of round one, sweeping aside Alejandro Valdez when Lamont was 13-0. Then came a change of direction, taking on tough Orlando Cruz, with the fight ending in a split draw, which would become the first of a hat-trick he didn't wish for.
He came unstuck against champion Jamel Herring, who was taller and rangier, with a longer reach and a more seasoned experience span. Lamont lost by unanimous decision, but banked lots of valuable experience in his memory.
He bounced back instantly to win the NABF title by defeating René Alvarado via unanimous decision, and then marched on to defeat Ángel Rodríguez in a final eliminator by a convincing unanimous decision. Next, he defeated Héctor García by split decision, dropping him in the twelfth round. Héctor had previously stepped up in weight and lost to talented, hard-hitting lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, staying on his stool after round eight. It was now time for Lamont to try his hand against southpaw “Tank”, a familiar foe from the amateur days.
As expected, Gervonta tested Lamont with some heavy artillery, but rival Roach parried and slipped many of the shots, fired back, and surprisingly stayed at close range, counter-punching and landing uppercuts. Then, in round nine, a bizarre moment occurred: after being hit with a left jab, Gervonta took a knee and walked over to his corner, where his team wiped his eyes with a towel. After the fight, he claimed grease from his hair had seeped into his eyes. It ended as a majority draw, but if referee Steve Willis had counted the knee bend as a knockdown, Lamont would have won by split decision.
Lamont then moved up to super lightweight to take on hard-charging, brawny-brawling, big-hitting WBC Interim super-lightweight champion Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. The heavier they are, the harder they hit, and “Pitbull” momentarily scrambled Roach’s senses with a snappy, snagging left hook in round three. Lamont swayed and wobbled, and his left glove touched down, necessitating a count for his first-ever knockdown. Yet, he recovered well and fought back hard to earn another majority draw, so Cruz retained his title.
Lamont’s father and principal coach, Lamont Sr., needs to urge him to surge and sit down on his punches, redden Zepeda’s lean flanks, and pot-shot him as he wades in—heavy-handed, aggressive, yet vulnerable. But… will Zepeda be so predictable, or perhaps he may be sneakier?
There’s been no needle, flamboyance, or flippancy in the buildup to this fight. Both of them worthy contenders, they have been gentlemanly, sensible, and nice, with no need to shove and shout, but with competing boxers at this level, that can soon turn to ice, especially during the arctic frisson of war.
The boxing styles of Lamont and William are well-defined. The key to victory will be in the ability of one of them to vary, adapt, and bolt on an added facet to initiate and provide the cutting edge. This will reap benefits and dividends—providing a rapier rather than a club or a blunderbuss.
WBC Lightweight Top 10 Champions
Floyd Mayweather (USA)
Carlos Ortiz (P. Rico)
Roberto Duran (Panama)
Hector Camacho (P. Rico)
Pernell Whitaker (USA)
Ismael Laguna (Panama)
Julio Cesar Chavez (Mexico)
Esteban De Jesus (P. Rico)
Alexis Arguello (Nicaragua)
Miguel Angel Gonzalez (Mexico)
DID YOU KNOW? Devin Haney is the longest reigning WBC lightweight champion, from September 2019 to November 2023 (just over 4 years and 2 months). He defended the belt 7 times. Miguel Ángel González holds the record for the most successful defences - 10 - during his reign from August 1992 to February 1996 (3 years and 6 months).
