Roach Keeps Stevenson Fight On His Radar

Lamont Roach Jr. has not given up on a fight with Shakur Stevenson, even as his immediate attention turns toward a more pressing opportunity.

Roach is closing in on a vacant WBC lightweight title fight against William Zepeda. A win would make him a two-weight champion. The path to a Shakur fight is not straightforward. Stevenson vacated the WBC lightweight title after moving up to 140 pounds, where he beat Teofimo Lopez for the WBO junior welterweight title on January 31, before being stripped of his WBC belt over unpaid sanctioning fees.

His departure from the division opened the vacancy Roach and Zepeda are now moving toward, but it also removed the most obvious mechanism that would have compelled Stevenson to face him. Without a belt, Roach must acknowledge the reality plainly — Stevenson has bigger names to chase at welterweight.

However, the two fighters have already spoken about a potential contest, and Roach has been consistent in his view that it would be one of the standout matchups. The problem is incentive. Stevenson is unbeaten at 25-0 and has the WBO junior welterweight title, with Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia — both welterweight champions — representing the kind of names that would define his legacy at this stage of his career. A fight with Roach, however competitive, does not carry the same weight unless Roach is holding a belt.

Roach’s Challenge

That is precisely why the Zepeda fight matters beyond the title itself. Zepeda is 33-1 with 27 knockouts — a dangerous, high-volume puncher who represents a genuine test at lightweight and carries enough credibility that winning would make Roach impossible to overlook. It would also give Stevenson a reason to come back down, or at least engage seriously with the conversation.

Roach already has history in fights that attract attention without delivering the recognition he deserves. His draw with Gervonta Davis was widely seen as a performance that warranted more than the result it received, with referee Steve Willis's failure to rule a knockdown against Davis a decision that continues to be debated.

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