By Steve Kim
Late last week it was revealed that Juan Diaz would not be available to face Ray Beltran as the co-feature on HBO in Omaha, Nebraska. But on Monday a deal was finalized with Mason Menard to replace 'the Baby Bull' on December 10th.
Beltran is relieved that he is staying on this broadcast (which is headlined by Terence Crawford, who defends his super lightweight belts against John Molina).
"I really don't know much about him,"Beltran admitted, as he was getting his hands wrapped for his days work at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California."I know that he's a dangerous kid, he's got a good record, a lot of knockouts, seems like a lot of power. That's what I know about him."
Menard, who has a record of 32-1 (24 KO's), gained notoriety in 2016 with two knockouts on ShoBox against the likes of Eudy Bernardo and Bahodir Mamadjonov. He might actually be a more dangerous foe than Diaz, who Beltran was half-expecting to pull-out of their fight.
"I wasn't surprised, I kind of had a feeling. He was making so many demands, so much complaining. So I'm not surprised this happened, I had a feeling," stated Beltran, who is ready to go regardless of his dance partner.
"I want to fight, so I'm ready. Thank God we got another opponent, another fighter to make sure we fight on the card. That's what we need."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.
