William Zepeda’s victory over Lamont Roach Jr. left a strong impression on long-time boxing journalist Mike Coppinger, who views the newly crowned WBC lightweight champion as one of boxing’s finest examples of the classic Mexican pressure fighter.
Coppinger credited Golden Boy’s patient development of Zepeda. Tough fights against Tevin Farmer followed by a loss to Shakur Stevenson helped prepare him for his dominant performance against Roach. The extended layoff before the fight also worked in his favor instead of producing ring rust.
“I think that was one of the rare times where a layoff does a fighter w
