Results:  Menard/Bernardo
by Chad Broussard

First and foremost, I would like to thank God for his blessing, guidance and direction, for allowing me the privilege of working with Mason Menard. It has been tough at times, but a team always pulls together, it has been a joy to be in the gym daily as I watched this kid grow into a man. I would take 300 Mason Menard’s and Bailey Bobbitt’s before any one person.

Eudy Bernardo was taken to the hospital and thankfully he was released with absolutely no problems, I spoke to his trainer and said they were getting on the plane headed home.

THANK YOU, to every single person who has ever attended our boxing event, to EVERYONE, I mean EVERYONE it’s ONLY because of YOU that we were able to see one kid’s dream, start to become a reality. B&T Rentals, Metal Craft Manufacturing, National Inspection Services, Total Production and Supply, Hulco Inc., Stelly’s Auto and Truck Repair, Acadiana Coatings and Supply, Planet Nutrition, Garden of Life, Abshire Chiropractic and Sports Medicine, Chris Davis at Acadiana Pain and Performance, Skip at Centurion Medical, Lux Spa who was instrumental in Mason’s performance, last but certainly not least, Red Lerille and his amazing gym, whom has opened the best boxing facility in the south. You buy more then just a ticket or table, you buy into a kid’s dream, when you attend a boxing match.

As everyone knows, Mason Menard signed with Greg Cohen Promotions in July of 2015, I knew that on any given day; if Mason shows up, he would in fact shock the world. We can reference this from the Lonnie Smith fight, then the Ivan Otero fight, right? We were called by Cohen to fight Eudy Bernardo 21-0-15ko’s, I called Mason; he was like, make the fight. I called Greg and he said WOW!! That was fast, just like that, after fighting a half of a round in the last 2 years basically. I was more cautious then Mason and spoke to him about it, Mason said: Chad! he can’t beat me, so we had the fight made. My worries, he been out the ring too long, inactive, the pressure of a Showtime fight, media calls, fighter meetings, conferences, photo shoot, come here, go there get this, bring that and on and on but, the kid was adamant about the fight. So, we began to prepare for his Showtime debut. Listen: I knew if Mason Menard showed up, the entire boxing world would know his name, then there is the fact that he will fight super tall 21-0-15ko Bernardo. Thank God for the sparring from Brad Solomon, Todd Manuel, Tremayne Jones which are all a lot taller then Mason.

I say this all the time, if I am not even in the gym, I tell Mason what to do, he would show up at the fight just like I was in the gym daily with him. I was out for an entire week the week before this fight. We left for New York the Wednesday. I knew he had got good work sparring, I knew he was as ready as he could be. I knew if the world seen Mason Menard, they would love him a lot like we do. The greatest thing is the way he managed his weight,  Mason was on point, kid eating 3 meals a day the day before weigh in. I knew at this point we would be ready to meet this challenge.

I almost threw up in the dressing room, I can assure you I was more nervous then Mason, when a kid wants to see victory, and is as driven as hard as he, and works as hard as he does, and listens as well as he does, and shows up daily to work on time, I guess he went to war in the gym so, the fight would be easy. Mason Menard executed the game plan to an absolute “T” he was never anxious nor did he get impatient, after a slow but nice first round he would begin executing the game plan. In the 2nd round he landed a few nice shots, both Aaron Navarro(our Cutman) and I noticed the shots Mason were landing were affecting Bernardo in a negative way. I noticed Bernardo measuring Mason with the jab to hit him with the right hand so, we changed it up, tried to give Bernardo absolutely nothing to punch. I am thinking in the corner, we on our way to claiming a victory on Showtime then, as spoken by Steve Farhood: “Menard had so much leverage on that punch it was freighting”, and down goes Bernardo and I knew the kid would not getting back to his feet at that moment tears of joy rolled down my face. The wait has come to an end, Mason Menard has finally had his first TV fight and not to mention Prime Time television, Showtime (ShoBox the New Generation).

In the fighter meeting all 3 guys were asking why no footage, why now, who is this kid? I simply said: after the meeting, we were separated, speaking to the same 3 guys alone this time, I said to them; if Mason Menard shows up tomorrow night, a new star will be born, and Mason Menard in fact DID SHOW UP!!!!!!!!