Lamont Roach Sr. Q&A: I’m a Hometown Guy Who Wants to Put on Great Shows

Lamont Roach Sr., traditionally known as an unassuming figure around boxing, has stepped into the spotlight as a promoter for regional fighters and others from his Washington, D.C.-based NoXcuse Boxing Club.

Roach will co-promote a show with ProBox TV in Washington, D.C., on Friday, a card headlined by his son, Lamont Roach Jr., in a defense of his junior lightweight title against Feargal McCrory at the Entertainment & Sports Arena. The event will be streamed on ProBox TV.

With the show, the Roaches hope in part to again pay tribute to a family cousin – Bernard “Booglaoo” Roach – who trained Lamont Jr. before he passed away several years ago.

In a recent conversation with BoxingScene, Roach Sr. discussed the significance of his son’s world title win and their family’s deep regional roots. He also provided insights into Friday’s event, emphasizing the importance of bringing top-tier boxing to the DMV and supporting the next generation of local fighters.

BoxingScene: What is it like promoting your sons Lamont Roach Jr. and Jordan Roach, as well as other members of your team, Benjamin Johnson and Rianna Rios?

Roach: Well, it came about wanting to bring the fight home to the hometown fans. They showed us the love coming up. We tried to get major promoters to come here, but they didn’t. So we said, ‘Hey, we’re gonna do it ourselves and bring the fans what they want to see.’

BS: Didn’t Lamont Jr. fight on the same night as an NFL “Thursday Night Football” game and sell pretty well?

Roach: Yeah, we packed the MGM that night on a Redskins-Cowboys football game, which is a rival game – and big for our hometown. But back in 2017, it was lit. It was a lot of energy, and we were looking forward to coming home again, but we didn’t get around that. So we got an opportunity now [and] we want to bring it back here to the fans.

BS: As someone who is so deeply invested in the amateurs, how important was it for you to give back to young fighters who might have had trouble getting on pro cards?

Roach: It means a lot, because the state of boxing changed a little bit. There aren’t as many dates out there. You can see some of them having a hard time finding fights and showcasing them as well. It feels good, because I’m a hometown guy. I support them. I support the hometown. I know this is a rough sport, and it feels good to see them get opportunities like that.

BS: Will there be any tributes to Boogaloo [Bernard Roach] at this show?

Roach: We always pay tribute to Boogaloo. Lamont does with his shorts and some of his pre-fight rituals, but hopefully we line something up like that.

BS: Any good Boogaloo stories you can share?

Roach: He just was a one-of-a-kind guy. Sometimes you might not like it – he had his own sense of humor – but it’s so many stories. Some will have you laugh, some will have you cry. So I just was just thankful to be on that journey with him. There’s several cases where he told coaches on the other side, “Hey, step aside. Step aside for a minute.” They move all the way, then he tells his fighter, “Look at him. He tired. I told you he was tired,” and then the coach would be mad about it. At the end of the fight, he was like, “Hey, man, I got to do what I got to do to get my kid to win. It ain’t personal. Don’t take it personal.”

But he had little tricks up his sleeve. He knew how to tap into his fighters. Man, individually, too, because he knew what triggers. He knew how to tap into his kids. Man, he’s had some wild stuff in the corner, but it works – very effective.

BS: How did you develop as a coach?

Roach: Well, I took Bernard’s style, learned from him. Learning from the best, but I put my own spin on it. I like studying, seeing him and how he reacts. At first, I didn’t understand sometimes. Then I started to see and I was like, “OK, I see.”

OK, now I see why he did it that way. I watched him. I watched other great trainers. Take a little bit, put my own spin on it. We have a foundation that was set with NoXcuse. We built off that foundation. I know each kid is different, but we still have a great foundation with that. So I’m a little bit more laid-back, but I’m direct. They know I’m a student of the game. I just am a behind-the-scenes kind of type. I was more behind the scenes before [Bernard] passed away. I knew my role, my place at the time. He told me he was going to give me everything, and he gave me everything he could.

BS: What’s the mission of your gym?

Roach: Our mission is to save lives first, through the sport of boxing, and so we save lives, giving back to the community, the youth. And in the process, we want to build champions. We keep on developing our kids, on a national level, to the professional level if some of them do go professional. I’m a realist, and I know all of them are not going to. I want them to be successful in life. First, in the community. But we try to compete at the highest level everywhere we go, to have our first world champion out of that gym, homegrown, to get the kids in the gym motivated – as they say, [to show] it can be done with our program.

BS: What did Lamont Jr. winning the junior lightweight title mean for the gym – and to you?

Roach: I believed in him. I knew he would bounce back. He had to start over, [having lost his first title fight], fighting on these undercards and going from the main event to fighting first or second. You got to take your lumps when it comes to the ranking, fight by fight, getting the right fights, training hard. It took a lot. Even getting the championship was tough.

We’d get the dates that didn’t match up with venues, and [had] delays – trying to stall us out, trying to buy us out, step aside, things like that we didn’t take. He went through a lot. We want to fight on the East Coast more. We love the West Coast, but getting the support at home, building your fan base, we wanted that.

We had to take the road that was given to us, and we stayed the course. 

It meant a lot winning the world title, knowing that he can bounce back from something like that and show not only my gym, but it showed people around the world that one loss don’t stop nothing. You can keep pushing. You can get back to that level. So him going through all that adversity, and then coming out winning – and winning in the fashion that he did, still on the B-side, on somebody else’s network, as a free agent – it was unbelievable. We had no doubt.

BS: How hard was it to get the Hector Luis Garcia fight?

Roach: It was hard. It took months. We were the mandatory. I had to bid on the fight myself. I came in second, but it still kept them honest. If they default, I get to promote the fight, because I was second in the bid. So it was hard to make because first the champion [Hector Luis Garcia] went up in weight to fight Tank [Gervonta Davis] at lightweight. I didn’t fault him for that, that’s part of boxing. But after that, it was the delay, delay, delay, like, four different dates I went through.

Then we got the deal done, though. At the end of the day, got a deal done with PBC. They treated us good, to be honest with you. For us on the B-side, his promotion, stuff like that. I guess they was looking to have an opportunity to sign us if we won. When you’re going to somebody else’s promotion on the B-side, facing the champ, you’ve got to bring the A-game. We bought ours that night.

BS: What makes this show so special?

Roach: This is not a regular, average show. This is a Showtime, HBO-type show with a world title fight, with a helluva co-main event between Lester Martinez and Carlos Gongora. The fight before that is a banger. Then it’s stacked with a pro debut and top prospects from the area. I’m going to partner with ProBox on this one, and I recommend you get here early, because you don’t want to miss any of the fights. Each one is good, I promise you that. 

BS: What is your goal? 

Roach: To put on great shows that have people wanting to support these local fighters and shows. As I keep saying, I am a hometown guy, and I want the young fight fans to grow up with great fights, as well as the older fight fans to not have to travel. If we can accomplish that, our job is done.