LAS VEGAS — There were only a couple of draws and lots of controversy for Lamont Roach Jr. last year
This year, there’s only a loss and no controversy.
William Zepeda (33-2, 27 KOs), an incoming missile throughout 12 rounds, eliminated any possibility that Roach (25-2-3, 10 KOs)would emerge with a career-correcting victory and a title Saturday night at Virgin Hotel in a TNT/DAZN opener to a monthly series.
On a night with open scoring, Zepeda managed to shut the door on Roach early and often, winning the World Boxing Council’s vacant lightweight title with a unanimous decision — 117-111, 118-110 and 117-111.
Through the first four rounds, the left-handed Zepeda did what he was expected to. The popular Mexican moved forward, incoming almost in a straight line. Quickly, Roach found himself on his back foot, often scrambling to find ways to slow Zepeda’s advance.
In the second round, he threw quick combinations. In the third, he tried to target Zepeda’s body. In the fourth, he retreated into a defensive posture, both gloved hands surrounding his face like castle walls.
Still, Zepeda moved forward, scoring with punches and aggressiveness. In a bout with open scoring, Zepeda led narrowly through the first four.
A Roach expectation — perhaps prayer — is that Zepeda would tire some time after the sixth. Then, the plan was for him to use all of the different weapons in his varied skill set. But there was no sign of fatigue apparent in Zepada’s march forward in the seventh and eighth. After eight, Zepeda continued to hold a narrow lead in the open scoring.
Roach, a Washington DC fighter seeking a second dtile at a second weight, still had a chance. But there was no chance of Zepeda slowing down. Not this time. He sustained his furious pace, throwing multiple punches — uppercuts, hooks, the kitchen sink — with every step toward his target.
For Roach, there was no shelter
No title either.
Muratalla scores dominant decision
Raymond Muratalla had options. He still does, perhaps one or two morethan he had a few days ago.
In a business-like bout, Muratalla checked all the boxes with a thorough decision over aging contender Robson Conceicao Saturday night at Las Vegas’ Virgin Hotel.
Muratalla, still the International Boxing Federation’s lightweight champion, kept himself in the hunt for a shot at a unified title, perhaps the World Boxing Council belt that was at stake in Saturday’s next bout, Lamont Roach-versus-William Zepeda.
More significant,perhaps, he stayed unbeaten, extending his record to 25-0, with 17 KOs). That’s a resume good enough to get some attention in the pound-for-pound neighborhood.
A lot of that was expected, of course. He was a 14-to-1 favorite, one- sided odds that explain why he wasn’t in the main event. He didn’t;t get a knockout or even a knockdown. Still, he was dominant.
Early on, it was evident that Muratalla was the better fighter. He moved forward, his feet moving in a tireless dance all the while. He was setting the pace, aggressively throwing jabs in an apparent effort to test Conceicao’s stamina. The Brazilian is 37. He’ll be 38 in October.
In the fifth and sixth rounds, it looked as if the younger man’s tactics might be working. Conceicao dropped his hands, first to his waist and then down to his hips. It was an invitation for the 29-year-old Muratalla to attack And he did.
But that’s when Conceicao (21-4-1, 10 KOs) found some life in his legs. He began a sideway shuffle — a step left, two or three steps to the right and a short hop backwards. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to deflect some of the dangerous power headed his way. In the end, however, it was only a way to survive. Only Muratalla would thrive.
Crazy Cards: Curiel wins decision
It was supposed to be a fight fit for television.
But there was more reason to nap than watch Raul Curiel beat Quintin Randall in a junior-middleweight fight on a Lamont Roach-William Zepeda card that was the first in a monthly TNT-DAZN series.
Curiel (18-0-1, 14) did more, just enough to win a narrow decision that was a so-called majority, yet all over the place in terms of scores. On one card, it was 97-93 for Curiel. On another, it was 100-90, also for Curiel. On the third, it was 95-95. Nowhere was a card that made much sense.
Curiel, of Mexico, was more active. Randall (17-4-1), of Houston, was more elusive. Neither was dominant.
Charles Conwell back with victory
It was dull.
Also predictable.
For Charles Conwell, it had to be.
In Conwell’s first fight in 16 months, the 2016 Olympian (22-1, 17) needed a victory and he got one Saturday, employing superior speed that kept Paul Kroll (12-1-2. 8 KOs), a Philadelphia junior-middleweight, on his back foot and into a retreat that finally ended with no counter or energy on the Lamont Roach-William Zepeda card at Las Vegas’ Virgin Hotel..
With Kroll defenseless and on the ropes, it ended in the ninth round, Conwell a winner by TKO in his first fight since a loss in April 2025.
Prospect Dylan Capetillo stopped in stunner
Danger is written into a prospect’s job definition.
How much danger?
Dylan Capetillo, a much hyped 17-year-old from Las Vegas, found out Saturday in a stunner Saturday on the card featuring Lamont Roach-William Zepeda at Vegas’ Virgin Hotel.
It struck hard and fast, a lightning bolt that left Capetillo with his first loss in only three fights. It was delivered by Juan Becerril, a Mexican who also has only three fights yet threw a left hand with all of the authority of a tested veteran.
Becerril (3-0, 2 KOs), knocked down in the second, floored Capetillo (2-1, 1 KO) in the third. It lifted Capetillo up and onto the canvas with a crash. The back of his head landed hard. He got up. But the referee had seen enough. He ended it at 48 seconds of the round, a hot prospect no more.
Joel Iriarte stay unbeaten with 8th-round stoppage
Joel Iriarte employed advantages in size and strength to walk down, wear down Jorge Lagunas, who was still on his feet yet unable to offer punch resistance when the welterweight fight was stopped in the eighth round of the fourth bout Saturday on a card featuring Roach-Zepeda at Vegas’ Virgin Hotel.
Lagunas (19-10, 16 KOs), of Mexico, was unhappy at the stoppage, a decision made by ringside physicians. He walked around the ring, throwing his hands in the air as if to say he wanted to continue. For that, he got applause, but not much else.
Iriarte, of Bakersfield CA, stayed unbeaten (11-0, 10 KOs) and retained a fringe welterweight belt.
Fabian Guzman rocks and rolls to dominant decision
Fabian Guzman threw more punches. They landed with more precision. And with more power.
In the end, Guzman (11-0, 7 KOs), a middleweight from Southern California, simply had more of everything, all enough to score a unanimous decision over Aaron Coley (17-6-2, 7 KOs), of Oakland, in the third bout on the Roach-Zepeda card Saturday at Vegas’ Virgin Hotel
Gael Cabrera stays unbeaten with dominant decision
Gael Cabrera calls himself Terror.
Terror is what he delivered.
For eight rounds, Cabrera (12-0, 7 KOs), a junior-featherweight prospect from Mexico, scored at will with punches from every possible angle Saturday in the second bout on the Lamont Roach-William Zepeda card at Vegas’ Virgin Hotel.
For an overmatched Francisco Portillo (20-15, 2 KOs), there was nowhere to hide. There was no counter either in a scorecard shutout put together by the dominant Cabrera, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter.
First Bell: Dalis Kaleiopu says Aloha with first-round stoppage
Aloha means hello.
Means goodbye.
Dalis Kaleiopu delivered both sides of the Hawaiian greeting, saying Hello to the Mainland and then Goodbye to Yeyery Castillo for a stunning first-round stoppage in a knockout opener Saturday to a card featuring Lamont Roach Jr.-versus-William.Zepeda at Virgin Hotel.
Castillo (14-3, 11 KOs), a lightweight from Philadelphia, never had a chance against Kaleiopu, who grew up in Waianae on the leeward side of Oahu, a cultural home for Hawaiian history. There’s power in that heritage. Kaleiopu (9-0, &KOs) displayed it, scoring a first-round stoppage for the third straight time.
