Junior bantamweight Jordan Roach wants to be viewed as one of the best prospects in boxing.
Roach will return Friday against Luis Quiles Rivera in a four-round fight being staged at the ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida, and broadcast on ProBox TV.
Roach, 21, is coached by his father, Lamont Roach Snr, and trains with his brother Lamont Jnr and Benjamin Johnson, who is also scheduled to fight on this card with other up-and-comers from the No Xcuse Boxing Gym in Capitol Heights, Maryland.
Roach, from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has a point to prove, and by December 2025 he wants to be talked about as one of the best prospects in the sport. Friday’s fight is another step towards that goal.
“I feel overlooked by the prospect lists not mentioning me,” said Roach, 2-0 (1 KO). “It is OK, because I am going to show my talent this year.”
Roach won the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, but given the new qualification process, he was unable to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Roach got his first career stoppage in his most recent fight – a first-round TKO of Robert Ledesma last October – and is eager to build on that success.
“I’m young. I’m 21,” Roach said. “I’m really about to start getting things rolling in these next couple years. I feel like this is an important year because I want to be on next year’s prospects list. It’s important for me to show that I am a contender.”
Rivera, 2-0-1 (1 KO), is a 25-year-old from Puerto Rico who fought Carlos Lebon, 4-1 (4 KOs), to a draw in a 118lbs fight in September in Orlando, Florida. His wins – one at 115lbs – have both come against Jeremis Hernandez-Torrez.
Roach has vowed to demonstrate his potential against Rivera on Friday.
“I will show my skills and I will show my power,” he said. “I can do everything in the ring with no limitations.”
Lucas Ketelle took an unconventional path to boxing, eventually finding his stride in gyms and media. For the past decade, he has hosted the “Lukie Boxing” podcast, filmed training camps for fighters like Arnold Barboza Jnr, Mikey Garcia and Caleb Plant, and worked with top professionals such as Mike Bazzel. Ketelle is also an author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for ProBox TV, BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @LukieBoxing.
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