William Zepeda terminates Roach in Las Vegas

Plus, Chamberlain and O’Leary serve up a Dublin cracker

Lamont Roach Jr. LOST PTS 12 William Zepeda

Mexico’s William Zepeda picked up the vacant WBC lightweight title in Virgin Hotels, Las Vegas, pounding out a comprehensive decision over Lamont Roach Jr.

It was supposed to be a nip-and-tuck affair going in. The first couple of rounds suggested that would be the pattern. Zepeda had other ideas, taking over and setting a pace that Roach could not live with, winning by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 (twice).

Even the introduction of open scoring could not rally Roach sufficiently as Zepeda’s pressure threatened to overwhelm him. Despite some sharp counter hooks, Lamont was second best throughout and didn’t even feign a hand of victory at the end.

“I want to become undisputed,” said Zepeda, who adopted a more calculated approach, returning a year after Shakur Stevenson outboxed him.

“I don’t care who it is or when it is, put them in front of me, and I’m going to beat them.”

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Roach Jr vs. Zepeda undercard

Further down the card, Raymond Muratalla is maturing into a solid world champion. ‘Danger’ defended his IBF lightweight title with a one-sided outboxing of Robson Conceicao.

Raul Curiel won a 10-round majority decision over Quinton Randall at welterweight. Charles Conwell dropped Paul Kroll in round three and stopped him in round nine of their super-welterweight 10.

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Pierce O’Leary LOST TKO 10 Mark Chamberlain

The first of three big Irish fight nights in quick succession ended in despair for Dublin’s Pierce O’Leary, who was stopped in round 10 by unfancied visitor Mark Chamberlain in the 3Arena.

The Portsmouth southpaw set the tone with knockdowns in rounds one and three. Busting O’Leary’s nose, right jabs and straight left hands could barely miss as Pierce’s nose and cheeks swelled up.

Bulling forward, trying to land an equaliser, O’Leary narrowed the distance and scorecard gap as Chamberlain’s jab disappeared mid rounds.

A superb body shot landed at the close of the seventh had Chamberlain gasping on all fours as O’Leary threatened to turn the tide. Chamberlain regrouped well, got back behind his jab and took over, landing a stinging uppercut and follow up barrage in round 10 that the Irishman could not recover from.

O’Leary crumbled at 1-37 losing his unbeaten record and IBO super-lightweight bauble. Promoter Frank Warren delicately danced around Chamberlain’s request for a homecoming fight.

I’m not sure a rematch is a good idea. I had Chamberlain up by a couple at the time of the stoppage and he has a tough style for the shorter O’Leary to try and figure out.

A shout out is due to Polish referee Leszek Jankowiak who was the perfect third man to keep the action flowing. His stoppage timing was spot on too. Refs are usually getting noticed for all the wrong reasons, but Mr Jankowiak did his job well.

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O’Leary vs. Chamberlain undercard

Supporting O’Leary and Chamberlain was Ben Fail who knocked out Craig O’Brien in round five. Royston Barney-Smith laid a beating on Reece Bellotti for 10 rounds but had to settle for a points win.

Steven Cairns finished off Senan Kelly in the fifth. Gary Cully stopped Lee Reeves in the 10th and final round. Limerick man Reeves was later hospitalised and we hope for a speedy recovery.

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Image Credits: Golden Boy Promotions/DAZN, Queensberry Promotional.

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About Steve…

Current existence: Boxing writer, eLearning educator.

Previous lives: Online editor at Boxing News Magazine. Author (8 books), podcaster (500+ eps), scriptwriter for Motivedia channel, newspaper journalist, copywriter & educator.