Fringe heavyweight Brian Minto (29-2, 18 KOs) had little trouble in stopping opponent Byron Polley (27-8-1, 10 KOs) in the 1st round last night at the Mountaineer Race Track, in Chester, West Virginia. Minto, 32, not currently ranked in the top 10 in the heavyweight division, quickly used his powerful right hand to drop Polley moments into the fight. Upon getting up, Polley was knocked down once again by Minto, who timed him perfectly with a 1-2 combination, sending Polley down for the final count. Referee Tim Wheeler then moved in and halted the bout at 1:52 of the 1st round.
For Minto, 32, it was his second consecutive win after losing a 12-round unanimous decision to Luan Krasniqi in March 2007. Before losing to Krasniqi, Minto had a nine fight win streak, which included an impressive 6th round TKO of comebacking Axel Schultz in November 2006. Minto’s style of fighting is exciting, often drawing comparison’s to the late Rocky Marciano.
However, due to Minto’s limited height of 5′11,” he’ll likely to continue to have problems when he faces the bigger heavyweights in the division. So far, Minto has been reluctant to take off weight and move down to the cruiserweight division, where he would almost instantly be a top contender in the division because of his power.
