There is no heavyweight title fight in the works for Butler's Brian Minto — at least, not yet.

WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko is defending his WBO crown against former WBCchampion Hasim Rahman Dec. 13 in Mannheim, Germany.

Rahman (45-6, 36 KOs) and Minto (32-2, 21 KOs) both were both considered as a replacement for unbeaten Russian Alexander Povetkin, who had to withdraw from the bout because of an ankle injury.

"Rahman is a former champion and it made sense for him to get the fight,"Minto's manager, Pat Nelson, said.

"Brian's still very much in the title picture. There's a very good chance his next fight will be against a giant Russian."

There are plenty to choose from. Klitschko's older brother, Vitali, returned from a 46-month layoff because of injuries to defeat Samuel Peter for the WBCtitle Oct. 11.

Unbeaten WBAchampion Ruslan Chagaev has not fought since January because of injuries and Nikolay Valuev (49-1, 34 KOs) has been awarded the title on an interim basis. Valuev lost a majority decision to Chagaev in their title fight last year.

"Valuev is officially the WBAchampion and he's trying to defend that title against Evander Holyfield on Dec. 20,"Nelson said. "Holyfield isn't even ranked right now and I don't think the sanctioning commission is going to go for it."

Andrew Golota, 40, is fighting Ray Austin Friday night. Should Golota (41-6-1) win that bout, he may face Valuev next month. If he loses and the Holyfield fight doesn't get sanctioned, Minto may enter the picture.

Ranked No. 15 by the WBA, Minto is eligible for a world title fight through that organization. He is ranked No. 11 by the WBO, with its rankings due to be updated next week.

"There are only a handful of guys out there who are eligible for these fights,"Nelson said. "A lot of top guys are hurt right now. I think something is going to break our way pretty soon."

Minto is coming off a fourth-round knockout of Galen Brown last weekend at Morrow Field House.

"We're not planning on fighting any more tune-ups,"Nelson said. "Brian's next fight will either be for a world title, a world title eliminator or a major TVfight."

Nelson has proposed a Minto-Donnell Holmes (29-0, 25 KOs) main event to the Versusnetwork. "HBOAfter Dark" may be interested in putting that fight together as well.

"I think something will fall into place here,"Minto said. "I'm definitely one of the smaller heavyweights out there. I don't know why any of those champions wouldn't want to fight me.

"The heavyweight division is being dominated by big Russians right now. Everyone's waiting for a white American guy to step up in there. I don't see why I can't be that guy.

"Sure, I'd be a big underdog because those (champions) are so big. You just have to believe in yourself and I do. I love when people say I can't do this or that. I feed off that stuff," he added.

Minto admitted he has to stay in boxing shape in case a title fight does break his way. At the same time, he plans to take the next two weeks off, other than getting his running in to keep his weight down.

"I took a pretty good shot (against Brown) and I'm giving my brain a rest for the next 30 days," he said. "I love boxing, but I don't want to be a victim, of the sport.

"It's a vicious game and I have kids I want to be able to play with down the road."

Minto remains patient in terms of fighting a fellow contender, but admitted to feeling a bit anxious.

"My resume is where it should be. I think I deserve something," he said.

Nelson said he plans to keep Minto on his regular fight schedule, meaning a return to the ring within the next three or four months.

"His next announcement will be a big announcement," he said.