by James Slater – Shortly after his exciting but losing rumble with Chris Arreola, back in December, 34-year-old Brian Minto said he’d fight guys his own size in the future. The 4th-round TKO loss at the hands of Arreola seems to have convinced Minto of that which a good number of fans have been saying for a while now – that he should drop a few pounds and make some noise as a 200-pounder. According to BoxRec, Minto will indeed fight as a cruiserweight in March..
Set to face decent journeyman Damon Reed on March 6th in Chester, West Virginia, according to BoxRec, “The Beast” will, for once, not be giving away a ton of height and weight in a fight. Never more than the low 220s as a heavyweight, Minto should have no real problems making 200-pounds even. And with the cruiserweight division currently fairly wide open and also exciting, the fan-friendly warrior could well achieve something in his new weight class.
With all due respect to 38-year-old Reed, 45-13(32), Minto should have no problems winning his debut at the new weight either. Though he will still be giving away some height (Reed is 6’0″ – Minto stands 5’11”) the 34-3(21) contender is a few leagues above the older man in terms of class. Unless the beating he took from Arreola did untold harm to Minto, he should be able to get a stoppage win on March 6th. But then what? How far can Minto go as a cruiserweight?
If he is stronger at the new weight, but at the same time just as powerful and sturdy as he was as a heavyweight, Minto could conceivably grab a major title one day. It’s still very early days, of course, and we don’t know if the new weight class will suit Minto as well as I’m suggesting it will. But if it does, there are some potentially good fights out there for the colourful slugger who has only ever been stopped the one time; by Arreola, who out-weighed him by over forty pounds.
Looking right at the top of the 200-pound pile, a fight between WBO champ Marco Huck and Minto would surely have a real possibility of being a superb little battle. Or, down a few places, ratings-wise, how about Minto against Britain’s Herbie Hide once Hide gets himself back in action? Or how about Minto taking on B.J Flores if Flores can’t get the title fight he wants as soon as he wants it? For my money, all three of these bouts would be worth seeing. And talking of money, Minto could earn himself some good paydays at his new weight.
First, though, he has to get past Reed. Since being stopped early by Monte Barrett up at heavyweight in 2008, Reed has won two in a row at 200-pounds. But speedy wins over Buck Smith and Jim Franklin will have done nothing to put any fear into the heart of Minto. Reed can punch some, but he isn’t too great at taking one back – having been stopped some seven times as a pro). And, yes, most of these stoppage losses came in fights with heavyweights, but Minto, if he hasn’t lost anything due to the Arreola defeat, should be able to increase Reed’s inside schedule losses to a total of eight.
It could be exciting for a few rounds, as Minto feels his way into his new weight class and also regains his confidence after losing last time out, but I see nothing but a successful 200-pound debut for “The Beast.”
Then we could see some real fun fights at cruiserweight courtesy of the man from Butler, Pennsylvania.