Roach was coming off back-to-back draws, including against a similar style in Isaac \u201cPitbull\u201d Cruz<\/a>. But though both are Mexican pressure fighters, Zepeda added more footwork adjustments and a change in his punch arrangements. It was the difference needed against Roach\u2019s counter-punching prowess.<\/p>\nThe Mexican lightweight never wavered and looked the fresher fighter through the 12 round championship fight. When the scores were read aloud to the audience after the eighth round, it was obvious that Roach needed a change of tactics and perhaps a knockout or knockdown.<\/p>\n
Neither was attained.<\/p>\n
\u201cZepeda was well prepared tonight,\u201d said Roach. \u201cHe was stepping back and not allowing me to counter.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a slight adjustment that proved successful and saw the judges score the match 118-110 and 117-111 (2x) for Zepeda, who becomes the WBC lightweight world titlist.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a sacrifice and a struggle. It finally came true,\u201d said Zepeda. \u201cI needed that break. Because of my true Mexican spirit I was able to break through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zepeda also said he now intends to fight any of the other lightweight world titlists to attain his dream of being an undisputed world champion. \u201cI don\u2019t care who it is, I want to fight them and beat them,\u201d said new champion Zepeda. \u201cI learned a lot from my fight with Shakur.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Muratalla Retains IBF Title<\/p>\n
In his last fight as a lightweight world titlist, Raymond Muratalla (25-0, 17 KOs) soundly defeated Robson Conceicao (21-4-1) with a seamless display of power boxing. It was his second consecutive conquest of a Olympic gold medalist.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy last fight at 135,\u201d said Fontana\u2019s Muratalla, who in his last fight defeated Olympian Andy Cruz. \u201cNot my best. Trouble making weight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Muratalla showed Brazil\u2019s Conceicao, a former super featherweight world titlist, that experience and toughness are not enough to match his offensive firepower that never waned despite the weight problems.<\/p>\n
Conceicao could not be hurt but was stunned many times. Though Muratalla was unable to knock down the Brazilian, he did dominate the former world champion. After 12 rounds one judge saw it 118-110 and two others 119-109. Muratalla retained the IBF lightweight title, perhaps for the last time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Other Bouts<\/p>\n
Mexico\u2019s Raul Curiel (18-0-1, 14 KOs) untangled the long arms of Quinton Randall (17-4-1) to win by majority decision after 10 rounds in a welterweight fight. Curiel was one pound over the 147 pound limit and maybe that extra pound caused him to start slow against the taller and long-armed Randall.<\/p>\n
Curiel needed four rounds to decipher Randall\u2019s movements and then moved in to gain control with pressure and power punches. Randall never submitted but could not hurt Curiel, and that allowed the Mexican fighter to press forward unimpeded. After 10 rounds one judge scored it 95-95, but two others saw it 97-93, 100-90 for Curiel.<\/p>\n
Curiel is ranked in the top 10 of the welterweight division.<\/p>\n
The real Charles Conwell (22-1, 16 KOs) showed up and knocked out Paul Kroll (12-1-2) in the ninth round of their super welterweight showdown. This time Cleveland defeated Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The last time out, Conwell looked sparkless and lost by decision to a fighter without a reputation. This time he was ready for anybody.<\/p>\n
Conwell erupted from the first round and kept the pressure with effective punching and floored Kroll with a left hook. Though Kroll never touched the floor, he was kept standing because of the ropes and according to boxing rules that is a knockdown.<\/p>\n
It was all downhill as Conwell kept the pressure with body shots and lethal combinations. Finally, a left to the ribs doubled up Kroll, who covered up as Conwell went to work. Conwell did not slowdown and forced referee Robert Hoyle to stop the fight at 2:38 of the ninth round.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Major Upset in Preliminaries<\/p>\n
One punch can change the outcome and did as Tijuana\u2019s Juan Becerril (3-0, 2 KOs) was knocked down in the first round and then knocked out teen-age wonder Dylan Capetillo (2-1) in the third round with a looping left to the chin at 2:59. \u201cHe hit blackjack,\u201d said commentator Beto Duran. Yes indeed.<\/p>\n
A lot was made of Capetillo\u2019s age at 17, but maybe he was simply too young. There\u2019s a lot of talent in Capetillo.<\/p>\n
Tall welterweight Joel Iriarte (11-0, 10 KOs) of Bakersfield dominated Mexico\u2019s Jorge Lagunas (19-10) in every round but couldn\u2019t put him down. He got an assist from referee Tony Weeks who stopped the fight at 2:48 of the eighth and last round, giving Iriarte the win by technical knockout. Lagunas protested the stoppage.<\/p>\n
Orange County\u2019s Fabian Guzman (11-0, 8 KOs) out-punched veteran southpaw Aaron Coley (17-6-2, 7 KOs) to win by unanimous decision after eight rounds in a middleweight fight. Oaklan\u2019s Coley has only been stopped once and that was against Serhii Bohachuk. Guzman tried his best to become the second, but Coley proved too tough for that task.<\/p>\n
A super bantamweight between two Mexican fighters saw Gael Cabrera (12-0, 7 KOs) dominate early but then need to stave off the veteran attacks from Francisco Portillo (20-15-2) in their eight-round battle. Cabrera was able to close the fight with some well-timed flurries to win by unanimous decision.<\/p>\n
To comment on this article in the Fight Forum, please CLICK HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A battle between two contrasting fighting styles saw the gatling gun approach of William \u201cCamaron\u201d Zepeda dismantle the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[412210,227602,64,63,412211,802,276835,105660,15751,312980,21204,412212,412213,6759,105662,412214,412215,56467,412216,412217,207126,227601,361433,368566,85079,13417,85,25288,412218,25290,176278],"class_list":["post-839589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-aaron-coley","tag-andy-cruz","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beto-duran","tag-boxing","tag-charles-conwell","tag-david-a-avila","tag-dazn","tag-dylan-capetillo","tag-fabian-guzman","tag-francisco-portillo","tag-gael-cabrera","tag-isaac-cruz","tag-joel-iriarte","tag-jorge-lagunas","tag-juan-becerril","tag-lamont-roach","tag-paul-kroll","tag-quinton-randall","tag-raul-curiel","tag-raymond-muratalla","tag-robert-hoyle","tag-robson-conceicao","tag-serhii-bohachuk","tag-shakur-stevenson","tag-sports","tag-the-sweet-science","tag-tony-weeks","tag-tss","tag-william-zepeda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}