Keys to Victory: Where will Lamont Roach Jr. and William Zepeda pick each other apart?

Roach faces a rugged William Zepeda tonight at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, and live on DAZN, with the vacant WBC lightweight title on the line. The fight will have an open scoring system.

Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) will be looking to produce a convincing victory after battling Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz to a majority draw in their March and December 2025 fights, respectively. Meanwhile, Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) aims to rebound from his first and only professional loss, a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Shakur Stevenson from July 2025.

Will Roach become a two-weight world champion, finally exorcising the sour taste that came from last year’s majority draws? Or will Zepeda, a former interim lightweight titleholder, realize his own potential with a championship triumph? With the stakes extremely high, DAZN News unpacks the Keys to Victory for both fighters.

Lamont Roach Jr.’s Keys to Victory

Catch Zepeda coming in, stand ground

Just as Lamont Roach Jr. dealt with against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, William Zepeda is a pressure fighter who is going to produce a deluge of punches.

It’s therefore imperative for Roach to stand his ground with flurries that thwart Zepeda’s advances in the pocket. The quicker he does that, the faster Roach will force the understanding that Zepeda’s pressure won’t be a match for his scrappy boxing style.

Uncork the check hook

Roach can also sting a pressing Zepeda by launching a check hook.

This can be the apt weapon to catch the Mexican warrior by surprise and force him to reset his offense with each landing. Roach’s left hook, in particular, can be a go-to punch if he could time it in conjunction with Zepeda’s jab attempts.

Turn the volume up

Having endured back-to-back excruciating majority draws his last two fights, Roach needs to do everything he can muster to have his hand raised definitively to hoist the world title by the night’s end.

That includes refusing to be drowned out by the wave of punches Zepeda generates. Zepeda is a fighter who has flirted with throwing 1,000 total punches his last two bouts, so Roach is going to need a higher output to ensure he doesn’t fall short on optics and scorecards if the fight goes the distance.

William Zepeda’s Keys to Victory

Make deposits to the body

William Zepeda does a solid job of disrupting fighters’ rhythm with a simple southpaw stab jab to the midsection. He also sits on his right hook to the body effectively.

Making these regular deposits to Lamont Roach Jr.’s body could go long ways to sapping the Washington D.C. native’s energy.

Show more head movement

During the final fight press conference earlier this week, Oscar De La Hoya said that boxers such as his Golden Boy charge Zepeda “evolve as a fighter naturally” following a loss. The boxing legend also promised that Zepeda is “going to move his head more” and “have lateral movements” as new wrinkles to enhance his fight game.

If Zepeda does show more head movement, it will help to evade harm’s way in the form of a Roach jab, cross or even hook. He’s been out of action for over a year, so now it’s time to see how much Zepeda has improved.

Keep the volume high

Zepeda’s motor is well-oiled and conditioned to throw punches at high rates as he nearly uncorked 1,000 blows in each of his last two fights.

Putting Roach under heavy turbulence with high volume is Zepeda’s best bet to leave Las Vegas as the new IBF lightweight world champion.

Who has the edge in Roach vs. Zepeda?

Analysis: DAZN News’ Mark Lelinwalla

William Zepeda is one of the best pressure fighters boxing has, regularly revving his engine to crank out a high volume of punches. But let’s face it: Roach stood up to one of the most feared boxer/puncher’s in Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis and an unrelenting pressure fighter in Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz and arguably did enough to win both fights. In fact, upon revisiting the two fights from last year, I had Roach winning both, instead of the majority draw results he was hit with.

Even though I expect Zepeda to drive his punch totals up to a higher amount, I’m anticipating Roach’s ring generalship and clean catch-and-shoot boxing to position him toward a redeeming victory and realization that he’s a two-division world champion by the night’s end.