Brian Minto lost a 10-round unanimous decision to unbeaten Polish heavyweight Artur Szpilka Saturday night at the Hala Luczniczka in Bydogoszcz, Poland.

The 38-year-old Butler fighter (37-6, 24 KOs) lost by judge's scorecards of 98-93, 98-92, 100-90. Fightnews.com scored the bout 97-93.

Szpilka, 24, claimed the interim WBC Baltic heavyweight title with the victory.

“I thought Brian carried the action the entire fight,” said Pat Nelson, Minto's manager. “But the other guy fought a very tactical, professional fight.

“Brian wanted a war and didn't get one. Szpilka didn't want to mix it up with him. He stayed outside, used his reach and threw punches. But Brian landed a lot more.”

There were no knockdowns by either fighter in the bout.

Fightnews.com reported that Minto “pressed the action and landed the harder punches.” Szpilka (15-0, 11 KOs) fought Minto as a tune-up fight for an Aug. 16 rematch with Mike Mollo in Chicago.

Mollo knocked Szpilka down twice in their Feb. 1 fight in Chicago before Szpilka won via a sixth-round TKO.

Minto fought for the first time since scoring a fourth-round TKO of Mike Sheppard last August in Chester, W.Va.

“I got a lot of the rust off,” Minto said. “Going over there, I knew I had to knock him out to win. Either way, I feel like I raised my stock in this fight.

“If this fight was held at a neutral place ... It was a draw, at worst.”

Nelson agreed.

“That fight could have gone either way,” Nelson said. “It's tough fighting a guy in his hometown, especially overseas.”

Minto said he landed a solid punch to Szpilka's ribs in the fifth round “that clearly rocked him.” Szpilka landed the last punch of the fight on Minto's nose “and my eyes blew up a bit after that,” Minto said.

Minto became only the third fighter to go the distance against Szpilka, the 25th-ranked heavyweight in the world. Jameel McCline lost a unanimous 10-round decision to Szpilka last year and Senol Cente lost a four-round unanimous decision in Szpilka's first professional fight in 2008.

The Minto-Szpilka bout took place in front of 4,000 fans in a building that “seemed like it was 80 or 90 degrees,” Minto said. “Going 10 rounds in those conditions took its toll on me.

“I'll take it easy for a little while, but I came out of this fight OK. The fans there gave me a nice ovation after the fight. I feel like I won them over.”

Nelson watched the fight online as he was in Dallas, Texas, with another fighter.

“I've gotten calls from promoters of other young, up and coming heavyweights, guys who are 20-0, 25-0, interested in fighting Brian,” Nelson said. “His situation hasn't changed, really.

“We're looking at a number of possibilities, including Evander Holyfield, maybe even putting together a fight card at Pullman Park in August.”

“If the money's right, I'm ready for anything,” Minto said.