Roach Eyes Matias, Shakur & Russell After Beating Pitbull?

Lamont Roach says he has his eyes on three fights “after” he beats WBC interim light welterweight champion Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz this Saturday night in San Antonio, Texas.

Look past Cruz already

Roach (25-1-2, 10 KOs) says he wants a straight title shot against WBC 140-lb champion Surbriel Matias after humiliating Cruz (28-3-1, 18 KOs). Given how Lamont has struggled at 130 in the past, it’s presumptuous of him to consider the Cruz fight a foregone conclusion already.

Roach never looked elite level at super featherweight. He only had that one recent fight against a distracted, spaced-out view Gervonta Davis last March, in which he appeared impressive. That poor performance by Tank may have been a sign that he had lost his motivation for the sport, rather than a sign that Roach was exceptional that night.

Life of the tank pull

With all the talk Roach has been doing, he’s going to look bad in the eyes of fans if he loses to ‘Pitbull’ Cruz in their headliner at the Frost Bank Center on Saturday night. He really got a lot of mileage out of his 12-round draw against Tank, going on a victory lap for the last eight months, even though he didn’t win. You don’t usually see fighters act like that. This shows how lackluster Roach’s career was.

Backup plan: Shakur at 135

“If we don’t get the Shakur, then obviously we’re going to look at Subriel because we’re going to be in line for that. We’re going to press the issue. ‘We’re the interim champion. We want to fight. Give us a time frame, a timeline, and we’ll go from there,'” Lamont Roach said. All the Smoke wants an immediate title shot against WBC light welterweight champion Subriel Matias if he defeats Isaac Cruz on Saturday.

What he is really hoping for is that he will be elevated to the new WBC champion after Matias recently tested positive for a banned substance.

Roach’s confidence or delusion?

If neither of those things happen, Roach says he will return to 135 to face Shakur Stevenson for his WBC lightweight title. Shakur returns to lightweight, followed by a dark cloud if he loses his January 31st fight against WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo Lopez. Fighting Shakur under those circumstances wouldn’t be ideal for Roach, but he might be needy if he loses to Cruz.

“It’s going to be a masterclass in boxing from me. It’s going to be fan-friendly for sure. It won’t be super fan-friendly without ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, the guy that’s in there with me,” Roach said. “I also really like a fight against Gary Antuanne Russell at 140. I really like that fight.”