Troy Weida insists he can take a licking and keep on ticking.

Problem is, he never gets the chance to do the latter.

"I have the ability to take a punch, wobble a little bit, gather my senses and come back strong," the 33-year-old Weida said. "But anytime I get in trouble, they stop the fight.

"It's ridiculous. This is boxing. Part of the game is being able to take a punch."

Weida (44-20-2, 31 KOs) of Kewanee, Ill., will oppose Butler's Brian Minto (22-1, 13 KOs) in an 8-round heavyweight fight Dec. 30 at The Harv in Chester, W.Va.

The bout is part of the undercard for the Monty Meza Clay (18-0, 12 KOs)-Shamir Reyes (18-4-2, 7 KOs) 12-round International Boxing Federation super featherweight world title fight.

Minto fought at The Harv last month and scored a TKO over Forrest Neal in the second round. Minto was involved in an automobile accident on his way home from that fight and sustained a gash in his knee that required four stitches.

He accepted the fight with Weida regardless.

"The knee's already healed. It's not bothering me at all," Minto said. "I took this fight to keep busy. I'm better that way."

Minto was at ringside April 9 when Weida was stopped in the fifth round by Vince Maddalone.

"He's big and he has some power, but he's kind of slow," Minto said of Weida. "I don't want to get caught (with a punch), and I don't think I will be.

"It's always a risk anytime you take a fight. Still, I prefer it this way. I want to stay sharp."

Barring any problems with Weida, Minto is scheduled to fight on the undercard of the Jan. 27 WBA cruiserweight title fight between Virgil Hill and Valery Brudov at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

The Hill-Brudov bout — and Minto's fight — will be televised live on pay-per-view.

"They don't have an opponent for me yet," Minto said. "It's not going to be anyone outstanding because most of the money has to go into that title fight."

The Jan. 27 bout will be on Minto's 31st birthday.

While Minto fights for a living, Weida fights for a hobby. He is employed full time in line construction, spending his time working on live power lines.

"It's real dangerous," Weida said of his job. "You have to know what you're doing and you have to be careful."

The same could be said about boxing.

Weida hasn't won a pro fight in 14 months. His last victory was an eight-round unanimous decision over Reggie Strickland on Oct. 8, 2004.

He hasn't gotten past the fifth round in his three fights this year, losing by a TKO to Maddalone in the fifth round April 9, to Mike Mollo in the first round July 13 and to Patrice L'Heureux in the third round Oct. 12.

"If I beat him (Minto), I have to settle for the satisfaction of doing it," Weida said. "My career's not going anywhere. I never had a chance to go anywhere.

"Pro boxing is all politics. It's who you know, who you're affiliated with, that gets you ranked. It's a joke the way some guys have gotten ranked."

Weida fought Brian Nielsen of Denmark, 53-1, for the vacant IBC heavyweight title in 2000 and knocked him down in the second round.

"I knocked him down in the second round, the first time he was ever knocked down," Weida said. "My corner had a stopwatch on him and he was down for 13.9 seconds and was never counted out.

"I got knocked down in the eight round and they wouldn't let me get up. The referee stood over me, his hand on my chest and told me to stay down. Then he stopped the fight."

Weida accepted a fight with then-heavyweight title contender Ray Mercer on five days notice in 2002. The bout was stopped just 28 seconds into the first round.

"He hit me, I wobbled into the ropes, came off the ropes and they stopped it," Weida said. "I only took that fight to see how I'd measure up against Mercer and I never got the chance.

"When Mike Tyson knocked out Nielsen, they said he was the first one to ever knock him down … I didn't even get credit for that."

The 5-foot-11 Minto is ranked 41st in the world by boxrec.com. The 6-3 Weida is ranked 207th.

Minto returned to his training camp in California, Pa., a few days ago.

"It's tough fighting over the holidays," he said. "I'll come home for Christmas, then go back (to camp) for the final week before the fight."

The fight card begins at 7:30 p.m. To buy tickets locally, call Kirk at 724-991-1861.