WBC Books Lamont Roach Jr and William Zepeda in Title Fight

The WBC officially has its two candidates in place to replace the recently stripped Shakur Stevenson as its next lightweight champion.

Three months after controversially taking the belt off Stevenson, the WBC is ready to move on by booking its next vacant title fight. Former WBA super featherweight champion Lamont Roach Jr. will face former WBC interim 135-pound titleholder William Zepeda for the vacant belt on August 1, Lance Pugmire of BoxingScene reported.

Roach and Zepeda will headline a fight card in Las Vegas, per Pugmire, who claims that the event is looking to book Mandalay Bay Resort.

Confirmed by @boxingscene: The WBC vacant lightweight title will be decided by @OneOf1x Lamont Roach Jnr and William Zepeda Aug. 1 on @DAZNBoxing @boxingontnt in Las Vegas. Told that effort is to take it to @MandalayBay.
— Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) May 15, 2026

The WBC previously ordered Roach and Zepeda as its interim lightweight title fight, but the matchup had not been confirmed until Friday. Fans took note of the organization's decision to exclude interim champion Jadier Herrera from its vacant championship plans.

The Roach-Zepeda fight will seemingly be promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, which has been representing Zepeda since 2021. Roach's last two outings have been with Premier Boxing Champions, but Pugmire reported that the fight will be on DAZN, which recently inked a multi-year deal with Oscar De La Hoya's promotion.

Lamont Roach Jr. and William Zepeda look to reclaim champion status

The fight will be Roach's fifth consecutive title fight, despite going nearly two years without a win and losing his belt in the process. Roach is infamously coming off back-to-back draws with Gervonta 'Tank' Davis and Isaac 'Pitbull' Cruz in a pair of fights that many believe he arguably could be 2-0 in.

Lamont Roach Jr. and Gervonta "Tank" Davis during a March 1, 2025 boxing fight. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Roach's fight with Davis is still one of the most disputed results in recent boxing history, allowing many to believe that he is the fighter to unofficially hand 'Tank' his first professional loss. Davis took a knee in the ninth round to wipe gel out of his eyes, but the referee did not call a knockdown as the rule states. Had that been properly scored, Roach would have won the fight on all three score cards.

Instead, Roach is 25-1-3 and no longer owns an active title.

After briefly pursuing a rematch with Davis, Roach moved up to 140 pounds to challenge Cruz for the WBC interim belt. He once again out-worked a power puncher to seemingly win the fight on the cards, only to hear it officially be scored as another draw.

Zepeda is coming off the first loss of his career in a thrilling 12-round bout with Stevenson for the WBC title. The Mexican pressure fighter has not fought since losing to Stevenson, but has remained the WBC's No. 1 contender, thus earning a second consecutive title fight.

Former WBC interim lightweight champion William Zepeda | Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images.

Although he did not win the fight, Zepeda received praise for hurting Stevenson and nearly dropping him.

Despite both coming off lackluster results, Roach and Zepeda are conceivably at the highest point of their careers. Either would immediately become a marketable champion with a win over the other in August.

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