Lamont Roach vs. William Zepeda is a showcase for what boxing can be opposite Zuffa in the modern era

Boxing spent decades allowing rival promoters to prevent its best fights from happening, but Lamont Roach Jr. believes those days may be over when he challenges William Zepeda for the vacant WBC lightweight world title this Saturday in Las Vegas.

DAZN, which airs the show, was once derided by former Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe as an app nobody knows how to pronounce, yet has, in the space of eight years, cornered the bulk of boxing’s U.S. broadcast market during an era when ESPN and Showtime Sports shuttered most of their own prizefighting programming.

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The Roach vs. Zepeda event, in particular, shows that cards once dominated with in-house promotional matchups have, perhaps, become a relic from the past, considering the involvement within DAZN of so many companies no longer considered rivals.

“A lot of people in boxing right now are in a comfortable place — and this card alone is put together by TGB Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions, ProBox Promotions, and Top Rank,” Roach told Uncrowned. “This is how boxing should be.”

TGB and Golden Boy worked together on numerous events this year, specifically landscape-changing headliners like Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia and David Benavidez vs. Gilberto “Zurdo” Benavidez.

Golden Boy headman Oscar De La Hoya told Uncrowned late last year that the sport’s biggest promotional figures better leave their egos at the door if they hope to thrive, not just survive, as Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing enters the fray. De La Hoya even said he’d happily merge with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) and/or Top Rank if it improved the sport as a whole.

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A source with knowledge of how PBC operates told Uncrowned back then that PBC felt little need to announce such a plan, preferring instead to co-promote alongside Golden Boy without the need to declare it so publicly.

While Zuffa spent 2025 threatening to isolate boxing’s traditional promoters as well as the sanctioning bodies, it seems more willing in 2026 to work with others. But whether that’s because the TKO-backed Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act has not yet passed remains to be seen. For now, Zuffa is one of many regular promotional entities working within the sport’s traditional framework, not yet permitted to operate alone as the Unified Boxing Organization (UBO) it hopes to be under a new legal construction.

For now, one thing — for Roach, at least — is clear. “Boxing is in a good spot,” he said.

“Fighters shouldn’t be having a difficult avenue to make a fight happen. And even Zuffa is partaking in it. So boxing is in a good space.”

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Roach, himself, wasn’t always in such a good space.

Not when he suffered back-to-back controversies in draws last year, against Gervonta “Tank” Davis and Isaac Cruz, fights he — and many — believed he should have won.

“I’m healed now,” he said. “But obviously, I was robbed. I still feel the same. The plan is to continue to move forward.”

Boxing is a fickle, results-oriented sport. A win can change everything. Losses change even more.

“Tank” Davis built a reputation as one of the most menacing knockout artists in the game, earning highlight-reel wins over Ryan Garcia, Leo Santa Cruz and Rolando “Rolly” Romero.

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But against Roach in March 2025, he appeared bamboozled. Davis touched the canvas with his glove mid-fight, which — per the rules — should have been ruled a knockdown, and even turned his back on his opponent, risking disqualification.

Davis received no infraction. He escaped with a draw, and hasn’t fought since as domestic violence allegations continue to seemingly compromise his career. 

Had Roach gotten that win, a box-office baton could have passed from Davis to his fellow American. The draw, instead, ensured Roach’s paydays would remain largely the same.

Regardless, Roach refuses to stay stagnant, even if he laments the decisions. He returns to the ring Saturday against Zepeda as “a better and upgraded version,” he said, and remains confident he “can put anybody away” after he and his team made “necessary adjustments” for 2026 — judging be damned.

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Roach watched many of Zepeda’s fights, including his lopsided July 2025 loss to Shakur Stevenson, which told Roach “a lot.”

“What he does good, what he does bad,” Roach said of Zepeda. “What his opponents succeed with and how we can capitalize.” But while he anticipates a finish, Roach emphasized that he isn’t “worried about what [Stevenson] did” in that fight. “My objective is just to get my own hand raised.”

From there, options should open up. Options Roach perhaps could have had sooner had it not been for the draws. Or robberies, as he puts it.

“I’ve moved on from Gervonta Davis,” he said. “After this, someone might bring it up, but I don’t see that fight happening. At all. I don’t think he wants to take the risk. Until there’s concrete evidence that there’s motion with that, we’re not worried about it.”

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Moving on from “Tank” makes sense when this weekend’s multi-promoter event contains two world title fights in the same division, as if an unofficial Final Four has borne fruit. 

Just before Roach and Zepeda make their walks, Raymond Muratalla and Robson Conceicao battle for the IBF lightweight championship. If Roach and Muratella win and retain their respective belts, a possible unification could be made for later this year. It would be another event in which TGB, through PBC, works alongside Top Rank.

“It’s very appetizing,” Roach said. “If Muratalla handles his business and I handle mine, it makes business sense. It’s common sense. We, at least, have somewhere to go for talks.”

With Abdullah Mason and other fighters floating from 135 pounds to 140 pounds and beyond, like Stevenson, Dalton Smith and Gary Antuanne Russell, Roach is spoiled for choice. “It’s really hot,” he said of the division, “and going to be on fire after this weekend.” 

Only Zepeda could extinguish the flames.