CENTER TWP — Even a signed contract isn’t getting Brian Minto an opponent these days.

The 36-year-old Butler heavyweight (35-4, 22 KOs) was scheduled to fight Tony Grano in a NABF heavyweight title contender eliminator bout Saturday night in Massachusetts.

That fight is now off after Minto and manager Pat Nelson refused a proposed postponement of the bout until January or February.

“This is the second time they’ve postponed the fight on us,” Nelson said. “This has been costing Brian money. He’s been paying for training and sparring partners for five months.”

Minto said he wouldn’t sign another contract to fight Grano unless the fight promoter forwarded him some money for training expenses.

“They decided not to, so I’m not doing it,” Minto said of the Grano bout.

Minto has fought only two rounds of actual competition — a victory over Pierre Karam in October of last year — in the past 17 months.

“That doesn’t bother me,” Nelson said. “At this stage of the game, it’s not the quantity of fights Brian takes, it’s the quality.

“He’s already been the most active world-class heavyweight out there. To take on a meaningless opponent at this juncture would be counter-productive.”

Instead, Nelson is negotiating with NABF champion Johnathan Banks’ camp for a Dec. 10 title bout on the undercard of the Wladimir Klitschko-Jean Marc Mormeck IBF-WBO heavyweight title fight in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Another possibility is a Minto-Tomasz Adamek bout in February or March. Adamek (44-2-1, 28 KOs) lost by 10th-round TKO to WBC champion Vitali Klitschko in September.

Banks is 27-1-1 with 18 KOs.

“By the Grano fight falling through, we may get to skip a step and get the fight we eventually wanted much earlier,” Nelson said of a Banks-Minto matchup.

“Brian has a good name in Germany. He’s put on some good shows over there. They know what they’re getting in him.”

Minto said he’s willing to be patient. Like Nelson, he is unconcerned about the long ring layoff.

“Nothing much is happening in the heavyweight division right now,” Minto said. “You develop ring rust by getting away from boxing for a while.

“I’ve been sparring hard for five weeks now. I feel good. I’m disappointed, but I feel good. Something will break eventually.”