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Minto faces Huck in Germany
By JOHN BASSETTI
YOUNGSTOWN
Brian “The Beast” Minto, who is trained by Youngstown’s Pat Nelson, will fight German Marco Huck tonight in Oldenburg, Germany.
Huck is Ring Magazine’s No. 1 cruiserweight. The web site boxrec.com lists him as the No. 1 male cruiserweight boxer in the world.
Heaviest to lightest, the 25-year-old Huck (29-10) is listed below heavyweight Wladimer Klitschko and ahead of light heavyweight Bernard Hopkins.
Need we go further?
Following Hopkins are super middleweight Lucian Bute, middleweight Sergio “Where Have We Heard This Name Before” Martinez, light middleweight Paul Williams and welterweight Manny Pacquiao.
The 12-round fight will be for Huck’s WBO cruiserweight title.
About nine hours later in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley will battle in a 12-rounder for Mosley’s WBA welterweight title.
Mayweather-Mosley is a big one, but, in Nelson’s mind, Minto’s battle is much more important.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work building his career, so we’re hoping our goals and aspirations will come to fruition on May 1,” said Nelson, Minto’s manager.
The fight for the WBO cruiserweight championship will be televised on the ARD Network — Germany’s equivalent of HBO.
Although Minto’s last fight was a fourth-round TKO loss to Chris Arreola on Dec. 5 on HBO in Atlantic City, the Butler, Pa., native dropped down to cruiserweight.
It may be a blessing in disguise.
Immediately, Minto, 35, became ranked No. 5 by the WBO and landed the title shot against Huck.
Although he never fought for a heavyweight title, Minto (34-3, 21 KOs), a former Slippery Rock University linebacker, was ranked in the heavier weight class.
“Being a name fighter in the heavyweight ranks and then dropping down enabled him to land the cruiserweight title fight right off the bat,” Nelson said.
As a co-feature to Huck-Minto, Nelson has another western Pennsylvania fighter scheduled. Tommy Karpency (19-1-1, 11 KOs) of Adah, Pa., will meet Karo Murat (21-0), also from Germany, in a 12-rounder for the WBO Intercontinental light heavyweight championship.
Murat is the WBO’s No. 2-ranked light heavyweight and No. 3 by the WBA. Karpency is No. 12 WBA and No. 15 WBC.
“One is for the world championship and the other is for a lofty ranking,” Nelson said of the stakes for Minto and Karpency, respectively.
Minto has won seven of his last eight fights. Previous to fighting the 263-pound Arreola, Minto’s last loss was to Luan Krasnigi on March 17, 2007.
Krasnigi, who won via unanimous decision after 12 rounds, was the WBO’s No. 1 heavyweight at the time.
The Huck fight will be Minto’s third in Germany. In 2006, Minto upset former IBF heavyweight challenger Axel Schulz. The Krasnigi fight was also in Germany.
This is Karpency’s first fight out of the U.S.
What are Minto’s chances?
“Obviously, he’s the underdog,” Nelson said.
“But he’s had a great camp,” Nelson said of Minto’s training under Freddie Roach at the Wildcat Gym in Hollywood, Calif.
“He’s never been sharper or more effective punching,” Nelson said. “Losing weight has increased his speed and stamina. We’ll be in hostile territory, but, because of the preparation that went into this fight, we’re expecting him to win — 100 percent.”
Nelson explained why he’s encouraged.
“He was ranked among heavyweights for years and never got a shot and was only 5-11, 215 in an era of behemoths, this is putting him in a more advantageous situation to become world champ,” Nelson said.