By Jason Kim: Undersized heavyweight Brian Minto (31-2, 20 KOs) made easy work of former Tough man competitor John Poole (20-3, 18 KOs) knocking him down three times and stopping him in the 1st round on Wednesday night at the Pullman Park, in Butler, Pennsylvania. For Minto, 33, it was high 4th consecutive 1st round knockout, albeit all against low C-class competition. Poore, 37, had good size at 6’3″, but little else going for him in terms of boxing skills. He never even attempted to use his size to try and establish his jab in the fight, allowing the short, stocky 5’11” Minto move in unmolested to the inside, and tag him with big uppercuts and hooks to the head.

Minto looked slow in the early going, slower than I had remembered him being in previous fights of his. However, Poore wasn’t in the position to take advantage of Minto’s lack of hand speed, for he had none of his own and didn’t appear to know how to pull the trigger with his own punches. Mostly, though, Poore just looked terrified, like he was over his head, he knew it, and didn’t know what to do other than stand there and take shots.

In hindsight, he probably wishes he had at least let his hands go, maybe then he’d feel a little better about himself even if knocked out in the fight, which I’m almost certain would have happened regardless what Poore tried to do.

Not bothering to jab or try and slow Minto down any, it wasn’t long before Minto bored his way onto the inside, looking like a copy of Rocky Marciano (okay, a slightly pudgy copy of Marciano) as he nailed Poore with right hands to the head and midsection. A second later, Minto tagged Poore with a left hand that caused him to stagger backwards. Minto then planted him with another left hand, dropping him to the canvas. Poore got up, received a standing eight count, then tried to cover up as Minto came plodding after him with a full head of steam.

Poore, thinking poorly, instinctively backed up against the ropes, where Minto used him for target practice, unloading with a series of combinations to the head, most getting through Poore’s guard. He attempted to escape, moving along the ropes to an even worse place, his corner. Now he was completely trapped, allowing Minto to home in on him with first a left hand, then a big right uppercut to the head that dropped Poore for the second time in the round. Again, Poore received another standing eight count, and was allowed to continue fighting.

The referee was obviously feeling generous with him, perhaps not wanting to do anything drastic like stopping the fight in a Joe Cortez style, leaving a lot of angry fans to bark at him. Once the action resumed, Minto unleashed a string of left hooks to the head, with Poore trying feebly to cover up, but it was no use as Minto nailed Poore with a huge left hook, dropping him to the canvas for the third and final time in the round. The referee Gary Rosato then stepped in and halted the fight at 2:23 of the round.

It was a good win for Minto, who is currently ranked #12 in the WBO. However, he really needs to consider moving up against a little tougher opposition than the recent low quality opposition that he’s been fighting. At this rate, it might take Minto another three years to work his way into title contention, and by then he’d be an old 36, having virtual no chance against whoever if the champion by that time.

Ideally, he’s be better off moving down to cruiserweight, where his of size wouldn’t be such a limiting factor for him. However, he’s ruled this out in the past, saying that he feels like he can make more of a mark in the heavyweight division. That hasn’t been the case, however, at least not yet. In his one attempt at fighting a top level fighter, he lost a 12-round unanimous decision to a faded Luan Krasniqi last year in March.

I suppose you really couldn’t consider Krasniqi at top level opponent at that point in his career given the fact that he was 37, and showing signs of ring wear. The fact that Minto lost to Krasniqi, who knocked him down in the process, would seem to suggest that Minto is more of a gatekeeper, probably more suited to the bottom 15 in the division than anywhere above that point. I’d have a hard time finding one opponent in the top 15 that I think he could beat.