Though boxing isn't a team sport, Brian Minto is fast becoming its biggest free agent.

Minto's first-round knockout of John Poore Wednesday night at Pullman Park improved his record to 31-2 with 20 knockouts.

"This is how I make my living,"Minto, 33, said of boxing. "I'm not tied to any promoter and I'm not under contract anywhere.

"Basically, I can go where I want and take any fight I want, as long as the money's right. This is a business."

One would think a small heavyweight with the explosiveness and personality of Minto should be able to climb the boxing ladder rather quickly.

Instead, it's been a slow and frustrating trek upward for the man affectionately known around town as "The Beast."

His longtime trainer, Tommy Yankello, boldly made the statement after Wednesday's fight that "I'm training the two most exciting fighters in the all of boxing right now in Brian Minto and Monty Meza-Clay."

Clay, a featherweight, has become a No. 1 contender for a world title.

With similar skills and similar charisma, Minto is ranked No. 12 by the World Boxing Organization and hasn't been able to crack the top 15 in any of the sport's other international sanctioning bodies.

What's the deal here?

Teddy Atlas, who trained 17 world boxing champions in his day, including heavyweight champ Michael Moorer and featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, says Minto is ready to test the waters.

A commentator for ESPN2's "Wednesday Night at the Fights," Atlas said his statement wasn't based on what he saw Wednesday.

"That guy (Poore) was no match for him,"he said. "He had no amateur background and his ring skills are very raw. Brian went right through him, but that's no surprise."

Maybe that's why Minto isn't climbing the ladder very quickly. His opponents haven't gotten past the first rung.

But destroying a guy in the first round on national TVmight be what Minto needed to do.

His manager, Pat Nelson, is talking about a possible big-money fight in Las Vegas or in Europe. If none of that pans out, a September return to Pullman Park isn't out of the question.

"I didn't even know this place existed — but I do now,"Nelson said.

Possible next opponents for Minto include current WBA, WBC and WBO cruiser weight champion David Haye (21-1, 20 KOs), who wants to come into the heavyweight division, or any of the top five ranked WBOheavyweights. Four of whom, Alexander Dimitrenko, Vladimir Virchis, Alexander Povetkin and Sultan Ibragimov, fight out of Russia or Ukraine.

Atlas has suggested either Joe Mesi or Chris Arreola, a pair of unbeaten heavyweights, could also be in the mix.

In any event, maybe Brian Minto's time has finally come.

If so, he can thank his hometown, a revitalized Pullman Park and his gutsy investment in his own community for making it happen.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.