SAN ANTONIO, TX – OCTOBER 08: Lamont Roach speaks during a press conference ahead of his fight with Isaac Cruz at Frost Bank Center on October 8, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
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Lamont Roach Jr. has proven he can hang with the best fighters in the world, but he’s yet to get a win in one of those marquee matchups. On August 1, Roach will get another opportunity when he clashes with William Zepeda in Las Vegas. The fight will headline a DAZN boxing card and all signs point to a potential war that could be the fight of the year.
When And Where Is Lamont Roach Jr. Vs. William Zepeda?
Roach-Zepeda will emanate from The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. The bout will headline the new TNT Sports and DAZN boxing series.
The 12-round bout is set for Saturday, August 1, 2026, with the vacant WBC lightweight world championship on the line after Shakur Stevenson moved on from the division. Tickets go on general sale Friday, June 5 at 10 a.m. PT, priced from $30 to $300.
The card launches “The Fight,” a new monthly boxing series from TNT Sports and DAZN — a real statement of intent for a partnership that wants to put marquee boxing back on accessible platforms.
How Can You Watch Roach Vs. Zepeda?
This one won’t be too difficult for fight fans to locate. American fight fans can watch on TNT and truTV while the worldwide streaming access will live on DAZN.
The basic-cable carry on TNT and truTV is the headline accessibility win — a 12-round title fight reaching far more U.S. households than the typical pay-per-view or premium-streaming model. The card is presented by Golden Boy Promotions in co-promotion with TGB Promotions and ProBox Promotions.
The Ring is reporting that IBF lightweight titleholder Raymond Muratalla will defend against 2016 Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao in the co-feature, though that bout hasn’t been formally announced yet. If it holds, the card carries two world title fights at 135.
Why Could This Be Fight Of The Year?
Stylistically, this has the makings of a war. Roach is a slick boxer, but he does his work inside the pocket. He has an excellent chin and he’s a very accurate counterpuncher. Zepeda is an all-action fighter who comes forward and throws with volume. It’ll be interesting to see which man is made to back up. In any case, there should be no shortage of action and strategy.
The records back it up. Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) won the WBA super featherweight title in 2023 and has spent his last two fights going life-and-death with bigger names, drawing controversially with Gervonta Davis in March 2025 and again with Isaac Cruz at 140 pounds. Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) has lost only to Stevenson — a unanimous decision last summer — and brings the kind of southpaw volume that historically punishes anything less than a perfect game plan.
When a high-IQ counterpuncher with a granite chin meets a southpaw pressure machine who never stops throwing, the math works toward chaos.
What’s At Stake For Roach And Zepeda?
In addition to the action potential, the stakes are high for this fight. The WBC 135-pound title is on the line and the winner will hold sway over one of the glamour divisions in the smaller weight classes.
For Roach, the win flips a narrative that has been hanging over his career. Two consecutive draws against bigger names have positioned him as the most-avoided “almost guy” in boxing; a clean victory here makes him a two-division world champion and puts him directly in the path of Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez and Keyshawn Davis. For Zepeda, this is the chance to graduate from interim-belt territory to full WBC champion and validate the marketing investment Golden Boy has made in him since 2021.
Whichever side comes out on top, the lightweight division gets the kind of definitive champion it has been missing — and the loser falls into the kind of valley that’s hard to climb back from.
