CENTER TWP — Brian Minto is going title-hunting.

Butler’s longtime professional boxer, who turned 38 Sunday, is seeking a world cruiserweight championship fight against either Denis Lebedev or Danny Green in the next few months.

“Those are the guys we’re targeting,” said Pat Nelson, Minto’s manager. “We’re hoping to land a fight against one of them in April or May.”

Minto’s last few fights — and the bulk of his pro career — has been in the heavyweight division. But he is ranked No. 14 by the WBA in the cruiserweight division and is expected to be ranked 23rd by the IBO when its rankings are released in late February.

“That’s the division I’m getting world ranked in, so that’s the title I’ll go after,” Minto said of cruiserweight. “You have to be eligible.”

Lebedev, 33, sports a 25-1 record with 19 knockouts and is the WBA cruiserweight champion. He hails from Chekhov Russia, and is coming off a fourth-round TKO of then-undefeated Sanjander Silgado in December.

Green, (33-5, 28 KO’s) turns 40 in March and is from Perth, Australia. He won the vacant IBO world title with a unanimous decision over Shane Cameron (29-2) in November.

Lebedev and Green own knockout wins over Roy Jones Jr. within the past four years.

“I probably match up better with Green because of his age and Lebedev’s a stronger fighter than Green,” Minto said. “Lebedev is a left-hander ... I’d take my chances against either one.”

Minto (37-5, 24 KO’s) has not fought since Aug. 18, when he scored a fourth-round TKO of Mike Sheppard in Chester, W.Va. Minto underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder two weeks ago.

He said he had a bone spur that was giving him trouble.

“Business is bad right now and I had some down time, so I figured I’d get that done,” Minto said. “The doctor was very pleased about how the surgery went and said the shoulder should be better than it was before.

“I already have full range of motion with it. In another three weeks, I’ll be back to full training.”

Minto fought WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck for that title in 2010, but was knocked down three times before retiring from the bout after the ninth round.

“It was a title shot and I couldn’t turn it down,” Minto said. “But I didn’t have a lot of time to cut the weight then and I didn’t feel right.

“I’ve since adjusted to fighting as a lighter weight. I weighed 197 when I beat Pierre Karam and I felt great.”

The 5-foot-11 Minto weighs 208 pounds now, his normal training weight. The weight limit for cruiserweight is 200.

Should Minto land a title shot, it will likely be in Russia or Australia.

“They’re the champs. Neither one is going to come over here,” Nelson said. “But Brian has a name overseas and that may help him here. Green fights a lot of American opponents because it hypes interest in his fights over there.”

If a world title fight isn’t secured by April or May, Nelson conceded Minto may have to face a top-10 ranked opponent in a title eliminator, with the winner getting a mandatory title shot.

“We’d rather eliminate that step, but we’ll do what we have to do,” Nelson said.

“Whatever it takes, I’ll do it,” Minto said. “It’s time to get going.”