CHESTER, W.Va. — Brian Minto's fight was not shown on television Friday night.

It could have been. The commercials lasted longer.

Minto knocked out Andy Sample just 37 seconds into the first round of their heavyweight fight at The Harv in a bout that did not start until 11:20 p.m., minutes after ESPN2's Friday Night at the Fights telecast went off the air.

"It's too bad they didn't put this on TV,"Minto said. "It would have been kind of fun."

The fight began with Sample (31-14-2) sticking a left jab in Minto's face, trying to keep the Butler fighter from getting close to him.

That strategy worked for about 30 seconds.

Once Minto (26-1) ducked underneath one of those jabs, Sample was done for. Minto connected with a right hook, left hook and a right uppercut — the latter punch nailing Sample directly in the nose, sending him crashing to the canvas.

Sample laid on his side throughout referee Tim Wheeler's 10-count.

"I didn't know where I was,"Sample said. "That's the hardest I've ever been hit. That guy (Minto) is going to be a great fighter."

The knockout was the quickest of Minto's professional career. He once knocked out an opponent in 17 seconds as an amateur.

When Sample did not get up after the 10-count, his handlers brought the stool from his corner across the ring and helped him get into a sitting position.

Blood was trickling from the bridge of Sample's nose as he rose from the canvas.

"I felt like my nose was inside my head,"Sample said. "The doctor kept telling me to breathe through my nose and I couldn't do it.

"I didn't even know where my nose was."

Minto was all smiles as he left the ring. The knockout was the 15th of his pro career.

"This feels great," he said. "I didn't get any nicks on me. I didn't get cut. You can't beat that.

"I only took this fight to stay busy."

He didn't stay busy for long.

"Nah, I didn't expect this," Minto said of the quick knockout. "But you never know. I wanted to go hard to his body, but the opportunity was there."

Minto has no immediate plans for his next fight, but insisted it will be a big one and it will be coming in the fall.

"Something big is going to happen,"he said. "I know that much."

Sample was stopped in the first round for the fourth time in his last seven fights. The 30-year-old from Topeka, Kansas, has been in the fight game for 21 years.

Employed full time by the city of Lawrence, Kan., as a machine and equipment operator, he doubts he will fight again.

"Itook this fight looking for answers,"Sample said. "Brian Minto is a top-30 heavyweight. My ranking is 240th. If I had a good showing tonight, I was going to quit my job and go into training full time.

"What you saw tonight was the difference between a part-time fighter and a full-time fighter."

Sample works during the day and trains at night. He is also a half-marathon and 10Krunner who got 27 miles of road work in during the week leading up to this fight.

"The other early knockouts were against guys bigger than me," Sample said. "Bigger opponents have always given me trouble because I can't use my jab effectively against them. Minto is smaller and I figured my jab would keep him outside.

"He was too strong. I couldn't keep him off me. If I'm not strong enough to do that ... It will take a really special deal to get me to fight again."

Minto plans to continue staying busy and continue attracting fans. Despite the late start to Friday's fight, a huge throng of Minto supporters were vocal as he was introduced.

"I appreciate so many people coming and staying late,"Minto said. "This is why I like to fight often. Ride the momentum of a sudden knockout like this."

The sudden knockout disappointed Sample more than anything.

"I wasn't expecting him to be that good,"Sanple said. "He just exploded into me. I wasn't expecting what I got. I don't remember much about it, either.

"I had nothing for that guy. Absolutely nothing."

During the televised portion of the card, Edner "Cherry Bomb"Cherry of the Bahamas (21-4-2) scored a 12th-round technical knockout of Daniel Alicea (30-6-2) of Puerto Rico for the NABFlightweight title.

Monty Meza-Clay (21-1)of Rankin scored a sixth-round TKOover Dean White (13-5-1) of Reston, Va., and Aliquippa's Verquan Kimbrough (15-1-1) scored a unanimous four-round decision over Marty Robbins (21-33-1) of Crossville, Tenn.