At the end of 2004, Brian Minto's boxing career hit a crossroads.

The Butler heavyweight fighter had just lost a controversial decision to 46-year-old Tony Tubbs. With a blemish on his record, his march toward a possible heavyweight title fight seemed to be stalled.

But the Butler fighter didn't panic. Instead, he trained harder, honed his skills and turned in a dominating year in 2005.

For that, Minto's comeback from that loss to Tubbs is the top story of the year, as voted by the Butler Eagle sports staff.

"At the beginning of the year, things were kind of crappy," Minto said. "I got a bad decision in a bad fight. It just kind of humbled me and showed me I had to work harder and rededicate myself."

Minto certainly did that. He wasted no time getting back into the ring, winning a unanimous decision over David Polk in March.

Each judge had Minto winning every round.

The highlight of his year, though, came in October when he pulverized Vince Maddalone and the referee stopped the fight in the seventh round.

Maddalone was bleeding profusely from cuts above and below his left eye.

The fight almost didn't happen. Maddalone had to postpone the bout twice because of injuries before finally taking on Minto.

It was the second meeting between the two boxers and the outcome in the rematch was decidedly more lopsided.

In the first go-around in 2004, Maddalone dominated Minto early, as the Butler boxer went down in the first round. He was behind on every card until he landed a punch to Maddalone's head that sent the boxer to the canvas for a dramatic knockout.

Fast forward 15 months. In the second fight, Maddalone never challenged Minto.

Instead, Minto dominated him from the beginning, hurting Maddalone just 30 seconds into the fight.

"Brian wasn't behind in that fight for one second," said Minto's trainer Tom Yankello. "It was a complete dominance. It shows you how much he has improved from the first fight."

Minto manhandled Jermell Barnes at the Days Inn in Butler in July for another unanimous decision, and, after his dominating win over Maddalone, he knocked out Forrest Neal in the second round in November.

Through it all, the 5-foot-11, 210-pound Minto has resisted the rumblings that he is too small to fight for a heavyweight title.

Instead, Minto thinks his size is an advantage because of the quickness that goes along with it.

"Everyone tells me I need to get bigger," Minto said. "But I have the quickness and the stamina these other guys don't have. I have the skills. I beat them with boxing skills."

Minto heads into 2006 in his prime. He is 30 and many of the top contenders in the heavyweight division are older and on the downside of their careers.

That has the Minto camp thinking big things in '06.

"Everything is there," Yankello said. "It's just a matter of time. He's continued to get better in all his tools. He has speed, great defense and he's relaxed in the ring."

Minto enters the new year with new, bigger goals — and with a technical knockout of Troy Weida Friday.

He is no longer satisfied with club fights or undercards. At 22-1 with 14 knockouts, the Minto camp believes 2006 will be his year.

"It's going to be a great year for him," Yankello said. "He's going to contend for a heavyweight title in 2006."