By Jake Donovan

It’s been a dream 2016 in-ring campaign for Mason Menard, but he is hardly resting on his laurels. In an era where boxers have been led to believe that from singular moments await a jackpot-sized payoff, the Louisiana-based knockout artist has stepped up big time in taking his biggest risk to date.

Awaiting him on Saturday is a showdown with veteran lightweight contender Ray Beltran. The bout will serve as part of a split-site tripleheader on HBO (Saturday, 9:35pm ET/PT), with their clash airing live from the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, in chief support to local hero Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford in a voluntary defense versus John Molina Jr.

Menard accepted the assignment on short notice, filling in for faded, former titlist Juan Diaz the moment the opportunity was made available.

“I am ready. I was already training to fight December 15,” insists Menard (32-1, 24KOs), who has won his last 30 starts, including knockouts in 10 of his past 10 bouts. “It's now or never. I believe God has blessed me with this fight because I've been praying for a big one to get me to the next level.

“I know Beltran has been around a long time and he's fought at the top level many times. He is very tough and I know he will bring it.”

Past opponents apparently didn’t receive the memo that Menard is prepared to bring it every time out as well. The 28-year old skyrocketed from club show cult favorite to budding contender over the course of the past year, thanks to a pair of signature performances on Showtime’s long-running “ShoBox: The New Generation” prospect-themed series.

Chief among the lot was his Knockout of the Year entrant, a sizzling one-punch 3rd round drilling of previously unbeaten Eudy Bernardo this past March in upstate New York. Menard followed up the performance with another Showtime-televised win, this time conquering Uzbekistan’s Bahodir Mamadjanov with a volley of punches in their clash this past August.

“2016 has been a great year for me,” notes Menard. “I've had two consecutive knockouts on national television and one is a candidate for ‘Knockout of the Year.’ I also won an award from the WBO in Puerto Rico.

“Now this fight has fallen into my lap and I will make the best of this opportunity.”

Awaiting the resurgent lightweight – whose lone loss came in his third pro bout – is another contender who knows a thing or two about sneaking up on the competition.

Beltran (31-7-1, 19KOs) was long regarded as boxing’s hard-luck contender, suffering a bushel of losses that could have easily gone his way. The battle-tested boxer from Phoenix (Arizona) by way of Mexico landed on the wrong end of controversial decisions in favor of then-unbeaten prospects Sharif Bogere and Luis Ramos Jr., and was forced to settle for a draw in what appeared to be a convincing victory over then-lightweight titlist Ricky Burns.

His career has since fallen on a bit of rough times, suffering a clear-cut loss to Crawford in Nov. ’14 – also at the CenturyLink Center – and watching everything go wrong in his clash with former 130 lb. titlist Takahiro Aoh last May. The vacant lightweight title became a non-title affair for Beltran after missing weight, only to then watch his 2nd round knockout victory convert to a No-Contest after testing positive for a banned substance.

Two wins have followed for Beltran, whose name and reputation still carries enough clout to where a victory over him will reap major benefits.

“Landing this fight is big for me and my career,” recognizes Menard. “A win here should put me in position to fight for a world title next. It should open doors me and make me a serious contender in the lightweight division.”

Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2