Newly crowned junior welterweight champion Shakur Stevenson is one of several options that Lamont Roach Jnr and his team are looking at – and they are not at all daunted by the possibility of challenging the incredibly gifted four-division titleholder.
Why are they so confident that Roach, a former junior lightweight titleholder now competing at 135 and 140lbs, has what it takes to get the job done against Stevenson?
“Same reason why he had what it took to do that with Gervonta Davis,” said Lamont Roach Snr, father and trainer to the 30-year-old from Washington, D.C.
Roach Jnr and “Tank” Davis fought last March, with many fans and observers discounting Roach’s chances ahead of time against the lightweight titleholder. Roach proved them wrong by fighting Davis to a controversial draw.
“It's going to apply the same way,” Roach Snr said. “Lamont was a very elite amateur. I think a lot of people forgot that. He was a 12-time national champion, Golden Glove champion at 17 years old, USA champion and outstanding boxer in the tournament. Signed right up to Golden Boy [Promotions] straight out of amateurs at 18. He was very accomplished and he went on to pros and became a world champion. His ring IQ, his ability to make adjustments, his conditioning.”
The Roach family is also familiar with Stevenson. The fighters are friends and have shared the ring with each other.
“So we know what we’re capable of,” Roach Snr said. “Him and Shakur makes for a great fight. Shakur said himself, that’s why Shakur picked Lamont to beat Gervonta, because them two did many rounds with each other. It was great work.”
Confidence and familiarity are all well and good. But what would it actually take to beat Stevenson?
“It could take a fighter like Lamont and a good game plan,” Roach Snr said. “Same way we cracked the code on Gervonta, we’d be looking to do the same with Shakur.”
The friendship wouldn’t keep the matchup from being possible.
“They talked it over. They decided the fight could be made,” Roach Snr said. “They understand it’s a business. They are friends. But when they get in the ring, I’m sure it’s going to be all business.”
Roach Jnr followed the Davis draw by enduring more frustration.
First, Davis pulled out of a potential rematch with Roach and instead signed for a lucrative exhibition with Jake Paul, which was later canceled due to Tank’s ongoing legal problems. And then Roach heard another disappointing verdict from the judges: a draw with WBC interim junior welterweight titleholder Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz in December. That brought Roach’s record to 25-1-3 (10 KOs).
Cruz no longer seems to be open to a rematch, Roach Snr said.
“Of course [Lamont Jnr] would have loved to fight both of those draws that he got again, but them not fighting him is telling you something right there,” Roach Snr said. “That speaks for itself.”
Even though they went winless in 2025, Team Roach feels like they’re in a good position to land the big fights they want.
Roach Jnr is positioned high in the lightweight ratings with both the WBA and WBC. The WBA belt could wind up vacant if the sanctioning body strips Davis, who was recently named “champion-in-recess.” And the WBC title is vacant now, as Stevenson parted with it rather than pay sanctioning fees to that organization for his victory over Teofimo Lopez last weekend for the WBO belt, which also earned him the lineal and Ring Magazine championships at 140lbs.
Robert Diaz, who advises Roach, recently told BoxingScene that he’ll petition the WBC for his fighter to vie for its vacant belt.
Roach is also in the process of returning from a broken right hand he suffered in the fifth round against Cruz. On February 4, Roach Jnr posted on social media that he’s been medically cleared to return to the ring.
“His hand healed after the cast got off and took the X-ray, so he’s good, just doing rehab right now,” Roach Snr said. “We’ll be back in the gym next week, slowly ramping it up. We’ll be prepared like in June-ish to be fighting again.”
While there are plenty of good options available, it still hurts not to have gotten victories against Davis or Cruz last year – and not just emotionally, but financially and in terms of legacy.
“We should’ve got the nods. You’d be looking at something totally different,” Roach Snr said. “We [would be] negotiating at a higher power, higher rate as a two-division or three-division world champion versus, you know, it’s a former world champion. It makes a big difference, man.
“He was hurt and he’s still hurt by it,” Roach Snr added. “We’re not satisfied. He wasn't satisfied. He was very disappointed, upset in both cases. You talking maybe a Hall of Fame career if it goes a different way. If it goes the way we thought it should, he's in a whole different conversation now. Now we just got to sit. Instead of in the driver's seat, we still got to wait and see, We’d have been in a totally different space.”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
