Brian Minto first got the call to fight Cris Arreola about "three or four weeks ago.""I think that they wanted to bring Arreola back, and they were looking for opponents," said Minto, who is considered to be a journeyman with a solid punch. "I know what the situation is. It's happened to me before. I was brought in to lose to Axel Schulz."
Minto was referring to a sixth-round knockout victory over Schulz in June 2006 that followed the latter's stoppage loss to Wladimir Klitschko.
And now, said Minto, "I'm a guy they think they're bringing in" to pad the record of Riverside's Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs), who is coming off of September's 10th-round knockout loss to WBC king, Vitali Klitschko.
Minto was chosen over other considerations such as 40-year-old former world champion, Oleg Maskaev (36-6, 27 KOs), 36-year-old former contender David Tua (50-3-1, 43) and 38-year-old Ray Austin (28-4-4, 18).
Austin knocked out DaVarryl Williamson (26-6, 22 KOs) on Halloween, and Maskaev is set to meet Nagy Aguilera (14-0, nine) on Dec. 11.
"I was on a list of maybe two or three," said Minto, a 34-year-old resident of Butler, PA. "They're looking for guys they think that are the perfect opponent, and that's what they think that they're getting with me."
Arreola-Minto will be the co-feature on the Dec. 5 undercard of Paul Williams' non-title, middleweight (160 pounds) clash with Sergio Martinez (44-1, 24 Kos) at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.
Minto's lone defeats were by decisions to former world champion Tony Tubbs in December of 2004 and world title contender Luan Krasniqi in March of 2007.
"I was brought in to go over to Germany to lose to Krasniqui, which I believe is a fight that I won," said Minto, who has since won seven straight, with his first five wins during that stretch being by knockout.
"If you go back and scored those rounds by aggression, I thought that I clearly out-worked Krasniqi, even though I got knocked down in the last round," said Minto. "I got up, finished the fight out. It was an interesting fight. Over there, you've got to knock those guys out cold, or you're not going to win."
Minto is coming off of a fourth-round, technical decision victory over previously unbeaten Donnell Holmes in August, handing the first loss to a man who entered the ring at 31-0-2, with 27 knockouts.
An accidental head-butt caused a "nasty gash" over Minto's left eye against Holmes, who trailed, 40-36, on two cards, and, 39-37, on the third at the time the bout was stopped by Rick Steigerwald, and, the judges used to determine the bout's outcome.
"I love this position because it's a win-win situation for me in every aspect. I'm being brought in because they believe that I'm going to get knocked out in one or two rounds, but I rise to the occasion for challenges like this," said Minto, who stands 5-foot-11, and weighed 217 pounds against the 6-2, 221-pound Holmes.
"A lot of guys look at me and say, 'he's 5-11, 220, and he's small.' They don't take into consideration that I can crack. So I feel like I have nothing to lose. There's absolutely no pressure on me," said Minto.
"I'll go in, I'll box a better boxing match. I'm game, and I can't wait," said Minto. "I've got a great opportunity for this fight. I've got one more week, and only time will tell."
Minto was trained against Holmes by Freddie Roach, a three-time Trainer Of The Year who, on Nov. 14, guided Manny Pacquiao to a 12th-round knockout of WBO welterweight champion, Miguel Cotto.
"I worked six weeks with Freddie Roach for my last fight with Holmes, and he's a good guy to have for setting up a gameplan," said Minto, who worked with Roach as his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. "Freddie showed me a couple of punches that work off of the angle, and sharpened up what I was doing."
Minto weighed a career-high 223 pounds for his first round knockout of Byron Polley in December of 2007, but has trimmed down two below 220 as of late.
"Something had told me to stay in the gym throughout the time off from my last fight. I wanted to stay in shape, and to remain focused, mentally. When [manager] Pat Nelson got the call, he came and told me, 'I got an interesting phone call today.' And I was like, 'yeah, what was that?'" said Minto.
"He told me the details, and I was excited, and here we are. Something had told me to stay in shape after my last fight, and I have a strength and conditioning coach that I've been working with religiously for two days a week," said Minto, whose new trainer, Tom Yankello, has replaced Roach as the latter prepares Amir Khan for a Dec. 5 defense of his 140-pound title against Dmitriy Salita.
"We had been putting our work in, and I had already been hitting the mits and the heavy bag three days a week," said Minto. "So I was actually training five days a week."
In Arreola, Minto faces a fighter who stands 6-4, and weighed 252 pounds against Vitali Klitschko.
To that end, Minto has spent nearly the past month training at the gym of middleweight champion, Kelly Pavlik, in Youngstown, Ohio, opposite sparring partners such as Cleveland's 6-3, 270-pound Jason Massey (3-0, two KOs), Youngstown's 6-2, 256-pound Chris Koval (24-6, 18 KOs) and Akron's 6-5,243-pound Nick Firtha (16-7-1, seven KOs).
"They're very big, tough, rugged guys. I should have a good 50 rounds in by the time the week's over. I didn't have 100 amateur fights, and I've been learning throughout the pro ranks and I think I've done a good job developing my own style," said Minto, who is rated No. 5 by the WBO and that organization's NABO champ.
"People say that when you make money, that you can lose your hunger, and maybe he is taking me lightly, but I'm not counting on that. I'm preparing for the best Arreola that there is because he's a dangerous puncher," said Minto. "But I haven't been stopped yet, and I've been down and gotten up. I step up great in these types of situations. I have no quit in me and I'm going to make this a dogfight."
