CENTER TWP — Brian Minto's professional boxing career isn't over.

Pierre Karam's might be.

Butler's Minto claimed the vacant WBC Continental Americas cruiserweight championship in a bloody bout Friday night at Ghost Riders when the fight was stopped after the second round.

Despite suffering a cut above the bridge of his nose in the first round, Minto (35-4, 22 knockouts) applied constant pressure on Karam (18-4-1), bloodying the Australian's nose in the first minute of the fight.

"He was tricky," Minto said. "He knew where I had to be to get to him and he moved his head forward right into me.

"After the round ... I picked it up a little bit. I knew he wasn't gonna be able to stay with the pace I was fighting at anyway."

Karam likely was saved by the bell at the end of the first round. He was slumped over in a corner, taking numerous combinations from Minto as the bell sounded.

"That guy took some punches," the Butler fighter said. "Once I saw how badly his nose was bleeding, I just went after it.

"This was my career tonight. I knew that if I lost, I was done. That's an uncomfortable feeling. I wanted to get this thing over with," he added.

Karam spent most of the second round against the ropes, taking numerous rights and lefts to the body and head. He staggered to his corner as the bell ended the round.

The ringside doctor examined Karam's right eye in his corner. The fight ended at that point.

"The doctor said Pierre couldn't continue," said Karam's trainer, David Lester.

When asked if Karam wanted to continue, Lester said, "No."

Karam was unavailable for comment after the bout, complaining of severe pain in his right eye.

After trying to make weight for the bout the night before, Karam appeared to become winded by the end of the first round.

"Dropping weight late did affect him," Lester said. "He didn't have any legs tonight. He couldn't move in there, and that's costly against a heavy hitter.

"I don't know if (Karam) will continue fighting."

Minto said he knew Karam did some running the night before "and I was going to use that against him."

Minto admitted the cut he sustained likely will require stitches. That would virtually eliminate any hope of fulfilling his contract with Sauerland Events, which owes him another fight in Germany before 2010 is over.

"You will not see Brian Minto in the ring again in 2010," said Pat Nelson, Minto's manager. "I'm flying to the WBC convention Monday and hope to have Brian ranked in the top 10 of the WBC by Thursday."

Nelson hopes to get Minto a second shot at a cruiserweight world title, either against WBC champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (44-2) of Poland or IBO champion Danny Green (30-3) of Australia.

A possible ESPN fight at Kittanning's Belmont Arena in April is also in the works.

In other bouts on Friday's card:

n Kittanning's Joe Luketic scored a second-round TKO over Cliff Gregory in the former's pro debut at junior middleweight.

Luketic used numerous combinations to force a winded Gregory to call it quits with 25 seconds left in the round.

"I saw how tired he was, so I just smothered him," Luketic said. "I suffocated him. He couldn't breathe."

• Gunner Gagen, 14, of Butler lost a decision in his amateur debut at 116 pounds to A.J. Horn (1-1) of Erie.

Gagen has been training with K.P. Peth in Peth's PMA Gym in Butler.

"I've been preparing there for two years now and have five or six fighters I'm working with," Peth said. "Gunner was very competitive in his first fight."

Fight ResultsProCruiserweight: Brian Minto (35-4, 22 KO's), Butler, TKO over Pierre Karam (18-4-1), Australia, 3:00 of second round

Junior middleweight: Joe Luketic (1-0, 1 KO), Kittanning, TKO over Cliff Gregory (1-7-5), Farrell, 2:35 of second round

Super middleweight: Greg Hackett (1-3), Philadelphia, four-round unanimous decision over John Fairley (0-3), Pittsburgh

Amateur (3 rounds)116 pounds: A.J. Horn (Erie) dec. over Gunner Gagen (Butler)

139 pounds: Marco Hall (Youngstown) dec. over Mike Goins (Columbus, Ohio)

170 pounds: Charlie Nest (Youngstown) 2nd-round TKO over Doyle Freeman (Columbus, Ohio)

170 pounds: Vic Toney (Youngstown) dec. over Montell Jones (Erie)

190 pounds: Mike Mercurio (Kittanning) dec. over Conner Young (Youngstown)

201 pounds: Mike Shook (Pittsburgh) dec. over Corey Hill (Columbus, Ohio)