AUCKLAND, New Zealand — From potential retirement to rejuvenation.

That’s a trip Butler’s Brian Minto completed with a stunning seven-round TKO of Shane Cameron in the latter’s hometown Saturday night in their WBO Oriental Pacific heavyweight title fight.

“I fought like my back was against the wall,” Minto, 38, said. “That was the attitude. I went into this fight figuring that if I lost, I’d probably hang up the gloves.”

Only he never came close to losing.

Minto (39-7, 25 KO’s) got hit with a clean shot along the ropes early in the second round. Besides that, he dominated the fight.

Cameron (29-4, 22 KO’s) was fighting for the first time in a year, since losing a world cruiserweight title fight to Danny Green in November of 2012.

Minto opened a cut above Cameron’s right eye in the third round. There were cuts above both of Cameron’s eyes when his corner threw in the towel at the end of the seventh round.

In the fifth round, Minto was deducted a point for an elbow to the head. He was deducted another point in the sixth round for a head-butt.

“They knew their guy was losing. ... Brian was deducted points without any warning in both cases,” said Pat Nelson, Minto’s manager.

But Minto’s attack was relentless on the New Zealand fighter. He repeatedly landed blows to Cameron’s head as he got inside, pounding him along the ropes.

“Minto used all of the advantages he could. He fought to his strengths and won,” Cameron’s trainer, Ken Reithsfield, told the New Zealand Herald. “He was a good smotherer, better than anticipated.”

Reithsfield described Cameron as a warrior, “but if you can’t see, you can’t defend yourself.”

Minto never knocked Cameron down during the bout.

“I rocked him a few times, but he’s a tough guy,” Minto said. “I was throwing a lot of punches, hitting him with a lot of big punches.

“The guy hung in and took it.”

Minto said he heard Cameron’s cornermen saying they would give him one more round after the seventh, “but he told them he was done, that was enough.”

Cameron, 36, told the New Zealand paper it was a “bad night at the office. The cuts made it difficult to see.”

Nelson anticipates Minto receiving a top 10 ranking in the WBO soon.

“He won their NABO title over (Donnell) Holmes, lost to Marco Huck for their world cruiserweight belt,” Nelson said. “Now he holds another WBO regional title.

“Nothing is etched in stone, but Brian has a lot of history with that organization.”

Minto’s trainer, Tom Yankello, could not make the trip to New Zealand. Nelson set Minto up with Kevin Barry, who trains up and coming New Zealand heavyweight Joseph Parker.

Parker (7-0, 6 KO’s) recently won the New Zealand heavyweight title. Only 21, he knocked out Frans Botha (48-9-3) in the second round in only Parker’s sixth pro fight.

“I’m guaranteed two more fights over there because of this win,” Minto said. “There’s talk of me fighting Parker. I’d love to take the guy on.”

Nelson compared Minto’s win over Cameron to his sixth-round TKO of Axel Schulz in Germany seven years ago.

“That fight did a lot for Brian and this one will, too,” Nelson said. “Beating a guy of Cameron’s quality in his hometown just shot Brian’s stock way up.

“This sets him up for a very good 2014.”

Minto admitted to taking a chance in taking the fight against Cameron on short notice. He accepted it days after competing in a Prizefighter Tournament in England and only had three weeks to prepare.

“I definitely took a chance. I didn’t know anybody here, wasn’t sure what I was walking into,” he said. “But I had to see where I stood at this point in my career.

“I weighed in at 211 pounds. That’s the lightest I’ve fought at in years. I felt great in there. I know I have more to give.”