He went undefeated in his first 20 fights (19 wins, 1 draw), collecting three minor belts before he unsuccessfully challenged Jamel Herring for his WBO super featherweight title in 2019.

He also claimed a bronze medal at the Klitschko Brothers Tournament in Ukraine and was honored with the USA Boxing Outstanding Boxer award for his performances that year.

Roach dominated the more experienced fighter, scoring three knockdowns before the fight was stopped in his favor by the referee in the fourth round, extending his winning streak to six.

[6] On January 28, 2017, he stopped Alejandro Valdez inside of two minutes in Indio, California to capture the vacant WBC Youth Silver super featherweight title and move to 13–0.

[8] Just days before his next fight, a non-title bout versus Dominican veteran Luis Hinojosa in October,[9] his cousin and life-long trainer Bernard "Boogaloo" Roach died of a heart attack.

[11] A month later Roach headlined his first professional card when he faced Rey Perez at the MGM National Harbor in Maryland, just 20 minutes from his hometown of Upper Marlboro.

[15][16] In what was his first fight outside of the continental United States, he fought Cruz to a controversial split draw in the main event of a Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN card.

[19] Three months later he defeated Deivis Julio Bassa for the still-vacant WBO International belt in Cancún, after the Colombian contender stayed in his corner at the conclusion of the sixth round.

[23] Roach faced veteran Puerto Rican fighter Jonathan Oquendo in a WBO junior lightweight final eliminator during the Álvarez–Daniel Jacobs undercard at T-Mobile Arena in May 2019.

[25] On November 9, he faced newly-crowned champion Jamel Herring for his WBO belt, but lost the 12-round bout in Fresno, California by unanimous decision.