The former WBA 130-pound champion has won only 10 of his 29 professional fights by knockout. He isn’t a star, either, even though he deserved to beat one of the sport's most popular fighters 16 months ago.

If you’re looking for provocative content on social media, sorry, Roach is a humble dude more interested in expressing respect for his opponents than talking trash.

In many ways, however, Roach embodies everything that is right about boxing.

As tough as they come, the feisty fighter from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, continues to take one difficult fight after another.

Settling for a majority draw with Gervonta Davis didn’t deter him, despite that referee Steve Willis failed to score a knockdown that would’ve won the fight for Roach when his foe took a knee in the ninth round of the March 2025 bout. Then, when Davis didn’t take the immediate rematch he was contractually owed, Roach, 30, moved up five more pounds — from the lightweight limit of 135 pounds to 140 — for a shot at the WBC interim title held by Isaac Cruz, a rugged, durable puncher who had given Davis (30-0-1, 28 KOs) some trouble.

Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs), who suffered a fractured right hand less than halfway through his fight versus Cruz (28-3-2, 18 KOs) on December 6, again refused to allow a second straight majority draw to demoralize him.

He instead embraced a third consecutive dangerous assignment against William Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs), a powerful southpaw who has lost only to four-division champ Shakur Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs), ranked No. 3 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list.

They’ll fight Saturday night for the vacant WBC lightweight title in a 12-round main event TNT will televise in the United States and DAZN will stream worldwide from Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Roach hasn’t attained Stevenson’s status, but he is a smart, skillful fighter who can effectively fight from the outside and on the inside. Much improved since Jamel Herring beat him by unanimous decision in November 2019, Roach has made Mexico’s Zepeda realize he is in for a difficult fight, his first since Stevenson unanimously outpointed him a year ago.

“I have a bundle of skills,” Roach said during a press conference Thursday. “I have a ton of will, heart like a lion and [courage] like Godzilla. And William Zepeda does as well, so it’s a hell of a clash that we can’t wait to see how it turns out Saturday night.”

Roach is very appreciative that open scoring will be utilized after settling for back-to-back majority draws in his last two fights.

A lack of scoring transparency during fights is a problem that has long plagued boxing and is clearly correctable. While some argue open scoring leads to strategy changes that encourage fighters who are ahead to play it safe, boxing is one of the few sports in which contestants and onlookers don’t know the score(s) until the event ends.

Combined with the subjective nature of scoring boxing, it intensifies public mistrust that can be minimized by announcing scores after the fourth and eighth rounds, or with more frequency. The WBC deserves much of the criticism it takes, but its initiative to use open scoring should be welcomed by regulatory agencies throughout the world.

Participants in team sports are often forced to alter approaches based on scores that are always available. Why not boxers?

Whether a fighter is ahead or behind, isn’t it better to know the scores rather than to wait for a ring announcer to inform you when it’s too late to do anything about it? Who knows what Roach might’ve done had he known the scores through eight rounds versus Davis and Cruz?

If your opponent fights cautiously because he is ahead once the scores are announced, you at least have the opportunity to press the action, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. Again, isn’t knowing better than hoping when you still have time to impact the outcome?

As remarkable as Anthony Joshua’s come-from-behind, second-round knockout was last weekend, it didn’t undo damage from an alarming first round to the marketability of his fight with Tyson Fury.

No matter how hard Kristian Prenga punches, he was completely unproven at that level. That didn’t stop the Albanian underdog from exposing Joshua’s lack of punch resistance in the British superstar’s first fight against a heavyweight since Daniel Dubois knocked him out in September 2024.

Fury, who will turn 38 next month, isn’t what he once was, either. But even ever-forgiving British boxing fans will have difficulty forgetting the heavily favored Joshua getting dropped twice by an opponent the former unified champ was expected to handle fairly easily.

Pummeling Prenga in the second round ensured Joshua, who will turn 37 in October, and Fury will finally fight sometime in November. Still, selling a fight a skeptical public already considers well past its due date became considerably harder based on what transpired.

■ DAZN deserves credit not only for keeping Devin Haney away from streaming competitor Paramount+, Zuffa Boxing’s exclusive partner, but also for funding Top Rank’s winning purse bid Thursday – $8.55 million – for the right to promote a Keyshawn Davis showdown to be offered globally. Haney would’ve eventually fought Stevenson, if not next, had he, too, signed with Zuffa. Signing Haney to a multi-fight agreement should afford DAZN the chance to pit Haney, even if Davis defeats him, against Ryan Garcia again in what remains one of boxing's most marketable matchups based on their history.

■ Robson Conceicao is 1-3-1 in world title bouts and, as an Olympic gold medalist, might be remembered as an underachiever in the professional ranks. The 37-year-old Brazilian contender’s continued willingness to challenge boxing's best junior lightweights and lightweights is still commendable. By late Saturday night, he’ll have faced defending champions Oscar Valdez, Stevenson, Emanuel Navarrete, O’Shaquie Foster twice and Raymond Muratalla in six of his past 10 fights. Stevenson, Navarrete, Foster and Muratalla are all ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 by The Ring in their respective divisions. Conceicao is rated No. 4 among The Ring’s junior lightweight contenders for a vacant championship.

■ We didn’t need more than a couple minutes to learn why Errol Spence skipped a tune-up bout before he went straight into a fight against Tim Tszyu, who beat him by unanimous decision Sunday. Three years out of the ring and a lot of damage done to his body left Spence unsure of his physical capabilities in an actual fight and he performed accordingly against a beatable opponent in Tszyu’s hometown of Sydney, Australia. At least the 36-year-old former IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champ admitted after fighting like a shell of his once-special self that retirement was his only option.