SLIPPERY ROCK— Brian Minto wiped the smile off Galen Brown's face — literally.

He replaced it with a little blood.

Minto (32-2, 21 KO's) landed two straight rights to Brown's head, dropping the 235-pound challenger to both knees and ending the WBAFedecentro heavyweight title fight 1:34 into the fourth round Saturday night at Morrow Field House.

Brown (31-10-1, 19 KO's) was cracking smiles at Minto every time the Butler fighter landed a blow to his head.

"That didn't bother me,"Minto said. "I knew I was hurting him."

Minto came into the ring wearing his Slippery Rock University No. 44 jersey — he once played linebacker at The Rock — and fought in dark green trunks with Slippery Rock wording on them.

And he eventually dropped Brown like a rock.

"Brian just had to be patient,"trainer Tommy Yankello said. "Relax and the knockout will come. He'd been used to those early knockouts and was getting a littler impatient."

Brown began the fight moving from corner to corner in the ring, Minto chasing and keeping him along the ropes. Minto peppered him with body shots during the first three rounds.

Showing little offense throughout the fight, Brown swung wildly a couple times in the second round, hitting nothing but air. He did land a right to the side of Minto's head in the third round.

"He caught me,"Minto admitted. "These horse-hair gloves are rough ... My left eye was blurry for a while."

Regardless, Minto circled the ring like a hungry animal stalking his prey.

And when Brown stopped moving, he stopped standing.

"Once he became stationary, he was finished,"Yankello said.

Minto connected with a left hook in the early seconds of the fourth round, knocking Brown off-balance. A combination of punches dropped the St. Joseph, Mo., fighter to one knee.

Once he returned to his feet, Brown tried dancing out of trouble, but came to a stop against the ropes, when Minto delivered the two rights that ended the fight.

"My stamina was horrible,"Brown admitted. "I probably did a stupid thing, taking this fight on three days notice.

"But it's hard to pass up a fight when you think you can win."

Brown weighed in at 235 pounds for the fight while Minto weighed in at 213.

"My fighting weight is usually 25 pounds lighter than this,"Brown said. "I'm not in shape. I'd love to fight (Minto) again with a few weeks time to get into condition.

"We were going to fight Dec. 30 in West Virginia. I would have stood a much better chance had we stayed with that."

Minto has no interest in fighting Brown again. His sights are set on a possible WBOworld title fight against champion Wladimir Klitschko Dec. 13 in Germany.

If that fight doesn't happen, he may take a break for a while.

"There's no point to me fighting this guy again,"Minto said of Brown. "I've been training, going at it pretty hard. I can definitely use a rest.

"If the Klitschko deal happens, yeah, I'm there. That's retirement money."

Minto had only fought one southpaw in his pro career — Cory Gregory in 2003 — before taking on Brown.

"His style was awkward. It took me a while to figure out,"Minto said. "He tried switching back and forth, righty to lefty, but I stayed on him and made it hard to do that."

Brown, bleeding a bit from the mouth, gave Minto his due.

"That guy is world-class, man," he said. "That's the best puncher I've been in the ring with."

On the under-card:

• Chris Archer (10-4) of Pittsburgh knocked out Don Schrock (2-12) of Cincinnati, Ohio, at 2:26 of the first round in middleweights.

• Cliff Gregory (1-7-1) of Farrell and Shane Gierke (4-16-1) of Kent, Ohio, fought to a four-round draw in welterweights.

• Josh Harris (2-2-1) of Youngstown, Ohio scored a majority decision over Julius Jackson (1-2) of Cincinnati, Ohio, in cruiserweights. He knocked down Jackson twice in the fourth and final round.

• Tom, Joseph (4-1-12) of Youngstown, Ohio, scored a six-round unanimous decision over Khristian Geraci (3-4-1) of Pittsburgh in welterweights.