Terence Crawford has offered Lamont Roach some words of wisdom ahead of his vacant WBC world title clash with William Zepeda.
The sanctioning body’s two leading lightweight contenders will collide this evening, headlining a Golden Boy card in Las Vegas.
Zepeda has therefore been presented with a second stab at the WBC 135lb strap, despite coming off a unanimous decision defeat to Shakur Stevenson in July 2025.
Even against Stevenson, though, the Mexican fought at a relentless pace and proved that he represents a hard night’s work for any fighter.
Roach, on the other hand, has been accused of lacking a degree of urgency, or rather believing he is comfortably ahead on the judges’ scorecards when, really, the fight remains in the balance.
This appeared to be the case in his last outing, against Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, whose sheer aggression and work rate saw him come away with a 12-round draw in December.
Prior to that, Roach boxed to a far more contentious draw against Gervonta Davis, who should have suffered a knockdown when he touched the canvas in round nine.
The fact remains, however, that Roach must elevate his punch output and intensity if he is to emerge victorious against Zepeda.
Speaking with FightHype, former three-division undisputed champion Crawford outlined this as an area of improvement for the 30-year-old.
“It’s going to be a good fight. If Roach don’t pick up his punch count, it’s going to be a bad one [for him].”
While seemingly needing to increase his volume, Roach does have the footwork and fluidity to cause Zepeda serious problems.
