But then he met his match in Shakur Stevenson and suffered the first loss of his career – a unanimous-decision defeat last July for the WBC 135-pound title.

A year later, Zepeda (33-1, 27 KOs) will get a crack at the same crown, although this time the vacant version, when he takes on Lamont Roach (25-1-3, 10 KOs) on August 1 at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Zepeda-Roach will headline a Golden Boy card on DAZN and TNT.

“We have a great challenge ahead of us,” Zepeda said during a press conference Tuesday. “We’ve been preparing for this for a very long time. Lamont is coming in with great experience over his last couple of fights. I know he’s coming to win, but I have the same mentality. I plan on taking this belt home.

“My goal is to still become a world champion against a fighter like Lamont, who brings a lot of qualities to the ring. I think we’re going to give the audience a great show.”

Zepeda certainly has no reason to have his head down after the Stevenson fight, when you consider he lost to a top pound-for-pound fighter while showing a better account of himself than the next guy Stevenson beat, Teofimo Lopez.

Zepeda came into the Stevenson clash off back-to-back, tough-fought, narrow decision wins against Tevin Farmer in November 2024 and March 2025. But the victories didn’t age well when Farmer was knocked out in the first round by Floyd Schofield last June.

“If you don’t learn anything, then you’re not growing in life or in boxing,” Zepeda’s coach, Jacob Najar, said. “We learned that there are people who have better nights than you. Shakur was the better fighter. There are no excuses. We trained hard, and we did everything we always do in camp. He was just a better fighter, so we learned that sometimes it’s just not your night.

“We’re not going to come back and have an easy fight. We want to know if we’re really meant for this … If we beat Roach, we could do what Isaac Cruz couldn’t do. If we beat Roach, we did what Gervonta Davis couldn’t do. I know what we bring to the table, and I know that Roach is the type of fight we want. If we beat Roach, we will go down in history.”

Roach is no stepover, but he has had a hard time convincing judges he’s the rightful winner during back-to-back majority draws against Davis in March 2025 and Cruz nine months later.

“I’m supposed to be here,” Roach said. “I’m feeling my destiny against a tough customer in Zepeda. I wouldn’t want to fight for a vacant title against anyone who wasn’t at the level of opposition as him.

“I am not overlooking him at all. He’s a tough task. I want to fight the toughest guys that will solidify my legacy.”

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan.