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Rayne native Mason Menard is considered by many to be among the top boxing prospects in all of Louisiana.
He certainly strengthened his case Friday night in a dominant performance at Cypress Bayou Casino’s Right Kings event.
Fighting before a home-heavy crowd that packed the casino’s pavilion room, Menard controlled his bout with DeShaun Williams from the opening bell, battering the Galveston, Texas, native in a knockout victory.
The money-shot was a hook to Williams’ jaw at the end of the fifth round that sent him to the ground for good and sent the casino crowd into a frenzy.
With the win, Menard is now 25-1 on his young career, with 18 wins by knockout.
“Man, it’s a packed house over here,” Menard said following the win. “This is a very nice venue that I love. The support those people showed me was a big source of inspiration for me tonight. I didn’t want to let them down. I wanted to give them what they paid to see – a knockout win.”
Menard’s latest triumph impressed the crowd, but it wasn’t earned without challenges.
Despite entering the bout with just a 5-13 record, Williams appeared to have a sizeable reach advantage on Menard, which made it difficult for the young slugger to land punches in the opening rounds of the fight.
“He was a big dude,” Menard said. “He was long and rangy. Every time I would get inside, he would put his head down and we would tangle up.”
But toward the end of the second round and into the third round, Menard took firm control, battering Williams’ head and body with an array of punishing blows.
Menard knocked down Williams two times in the fight before the knockout punch, which came with just seconds left in the fifth round.
“I just had to find my range,” Menard said. “Once I found my range on him, it was night-night for him – he had to go to sleep. That was my game plan – to come out and keep putting pressure on him. I knew he was going to fold under the pressure, but it would just take some time. I guess now we can say that it took five rounds for it to happen.”
With the win, Menard will now continue to push toward deeper waters within the boxing industry.
The current Universal Boxing Organization World Lightweight Champion, Menard was scheduled to defend that title on Friday against David Torres – a 21-3-2 fighter that has fought world-class fighters like Julio Diaz and Ruslan Provodnikov in his career.
But Torres pulled out of the fight because of an injury, which left Menard against Williams – an overmatched journeyman.
Menard said he hopes to defend his title in the future, while also pushing for more prestigious bouts.
“Wherever they tell me to fight, and whoever they tell me to fight, that’s where I’m going to be,” he said. “I love what I do, and I am just excited to keep pushing forward into the future.”
Menard’s win was the fight that drew the most audience attention in the night of fights, but it wasn’t the main event of the show.
In the final bout of the night, undefeated Baton Rouge native Travis Scott earned a unanimous decision victory against Larry Smith – a win that earned Scott the vacant UBO All-America Middleweight crown.
Scott controlled the fight with Smith from the get-go.
The 15-0 veteran kept Smith at arm’s length throughout the bout, routinely ducking his punches, while countering with some of his own.
Scott doesn’t possess elite power, owning just three knockouts in his career, but his footwork and savvy were plenty to win nearly every round of the fight.
Two of the three judges gave Scott all eight of the fight’s rounds.
Another scored it 7-1 in favor of the new champion.
In one of the opening bouts of the night, another Baton Rouge native kept his sparkling unbeaten streak alive.
29-year-old Chris Singleton scored a unanimous decision against 40-year-old grizzled veteran Anthony Bowman.
Singleton won all six rounds on all three scorecards, but the two fighters gave the audience a show, landing several clean blows to one another.
The fans in attendance gave both fighters a standing ovation as the final bell sounded, and both fighters hopped on the top turnbuckle to salute the fans.
It was Singleton’s second win in less than a week. He had also fought on June 22.
In the other two bouts of the five-fight card, heavyweight Danny Batchelder defeated Rodney Moore by a unanimous decision.
In the opening fight of the night, Justin Thomas scored a decision victory against Keyon Thomas.
Local fighter Mason Menard (middle) poses for a picture with fans during Thursday’s weigh-in. The Rayne native improved to 25-1 in his young career, scoring a 5th round knockout over DeShaun Williams. The fights were at Cypress Bayou Casino in Charenton.
