"I'd like to be back in again by the end of this year. I want a championship fight and I would love to fight WBO champ Terry Flanagan. I wouldn't mind getting that fight, but I know he probably won't take the fight with me; anybody. Whatever they put in front of me, I'm ready. I'm ready for the big dogs. I'm ready to make the big money," stated lightweight contender Mason Menard, who talked about his latest victory, his future plans, and more. Check it out!
PC: Congratulations on the TKO win over Bahodir Mamadjonov. How do you feel, man?
MM: Thank you, man. I'm feeling good. I'm a little sore after the fight, but overall, I'm feeling good right now.
PC: He was awkward and he was a southpaw and had some little tricky things he did in there. I could sense what you wanted to touch him with, but you had to show a lot of patience to eventually land it. Talk us through what you were seeing and trying to do!
MM: We took the fight on 2-weeks notice. We were both scheduled to fight on the same card and he's a southpaw. Southpaws are already different to fight. And not only was he a southpaw, he was an awkward southpaw. His style was difficult and we knew this going into the fight. I also knew, when they called me about this fight, it would be difficult. But when I took the fight, I knew that I eventually gotta beat guys like this. The game plan going into the fight was to touch him to the body. We knew he would fade later in the fight. I just had to stay poised and patient and wait for the shots to open up. I wasn't on my A-game. I usually move a little better on my feet and let my punches go a little more, but that also had to do with his awkward style. I can't take nothing away from the guy. We went in there and did what we wanted to do as far as just hunting him down and walking him down and just kept doing that. I knew that we would eventually get to the body and take him out. We were predicting round 7 to be the stoppage round. I actually dropped him twice in that round and I finished him in 9. We were happy with the performance.
PC: When you hurt a guy that's awkward, he becomes even more awkward, so you still have to set up shots and not go crazy. Was that your mindset even after the knockdowns?
MM: Yeah! When you hurt a guy, if he's not severely hurt, you can't just jump on him and try to finish him because I gotta give credit. He had decent power and you can't come in crazy and get caught with a shot and then the whole fight can turn around. So I was just taking my time with it and I knew the opportunity would present itself. And when it did like it did in the 9th round, I took advantage of it.
PC: You stepped off to the side and landed a great straight right hand. That was the beginning of the end. Did you sense the fight was over when he went down or were you anticipating him getting up?
MM: When I landed that shot, I figured it was close to the end. He was still holding up. I hit him with a couple of good body shots and then another straight right to the head and that's when he fell forward on me. Then I pushed him against the ropes and the ref separated us and that's when he fell. I felt like it was over then because he was already kind of huffing and puffing a little bit and I was wearing him down. I hit him with some brutal shots that I figured he wouldn't get up from.
PC: When you listen to the commentary, they had you down. Were you down in that fight in your mind and was there ever a time where the panic button was pushed?
MM: No! In the 6th round, when I got to the corner, I said to myself that I needed to start picking it up a little bit. I needed to start catching him with some better shots because in my mind, I had it even after 6 at 3 rounds a piece. After I dropped him twice in the 7th round, I figured I had to be ahead by a little bit. I wanted to keep pushing the pace and get him out of there by the 10th and final round. I knew he was winding down, so I figured the last 4 rounds, I would win them because I didn't think he could go hard for 4 more rounds. His licks didn't have a whole lot on them anymore, he was running around a little more, and I was starting to hurt him when I would catch him with shots. So I knew it was only a matter of time before I caught him and stopped him or I would win every round and get the victory.
PC: You also had to deal with a little cut. Did that bother you any during the course of the fight?
MM: I wasn't even worried about it. I got one of the best cutmen in the game, Aaron Navarro. As soon as I got to the corner, he got to work on it and he said, "Ah, this ain't nothing. Give me 2 rounds and I'll have it stopped." I came out of the corner for that round and it was done. It never leaked again, and when it was leaking during the fight, it never got in my eye or bothered me. So everything was good with the cut. I ended up with 4 stitches.
PC: During the course of the fight, they spoke about how the later rounds would play out as well, considering you had gone 10 rounds more times than Mamadjonov. Do you feel that was a factor at all?
MM: I think he seen those rounds, but I think it had been awhile since he had seen those later rounds. I just knew from the weigh-ins and stuff just by looking at him that I was in better shape. I knew I was in great shape. We both had been kind of inactive. He had gotten in more rounds than I have because the last 2 years, I only put in not even a full 4 rounds. So we knew that he would fade because we had seen him do it in other fights. My corner watched him; they wanted me to go to the body because they knew he would fade in the later rounds and that's what happened.
PC: You have scored 2 spectacular knockouts on Showtime, so I'm sure the network wants you back. How soon would you like to get back on and is there anyone in particular you want to fight next?
MM: I'd like to be back in again by the end of this year. I want a championship fight and I would love to fight WBO champ Terry Flanagan. I wouldn't mind getting that fight, but I know he probably won't take the fight with me; anybody. Whatever they put in front of me, I'm ready. I'm ready for the big dogs. I'm ready to make the big money.
PC: With everything going on in Louisiana with the flooding and all, was your camp ever interrupted?
MM: I had a clean camp and was able to focus on my fight. Where I live, we didn't catch any flooding. But on my boulevard or my lil' town, it was under water. I train in Lafayette and that Saturday, I couldn't get to the gym to do my strength and conditioning, which was a light little cardio workout, so I just went to a little local gym in Rayne and I had to take side roads to get to it and get my work in. But for the most part, the flooding didn't affect me and we was able to focus on the fight.
PC: I appreciate the time. Keep representing the state well and I look forward to seeing you back in there.
MM: Thank you, man! I appreciate you calling me. It's always a pleasure talking to you.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]