I am not on Brian Minto's payroll.

Nor do I receive a penny of commission from ticket sales to his fights, nor have I ever received a penny of the Butler boxer's money.

Nonetheless, people in this community should go see him fight — for a number of reasons.

His story is incredible.

Here's a guy who fought a handful of amateur bouts before turning pro just two months before his 28th birthday. He's gone through different trainers, brought two fight cards to Pullman Park with a third on the way, and fought for a world cruiserweight title in his first career fight in that division.

Anyone who doesn't believe boxers are warriors hasn't seen Brian Minto fight.

He won 27 of his first 28 pro fights as a heavyweight despite being smaller and weighing less than virtually every one of his opponents.

His only loss in that stretch was a 10-round split decision to Tony Tubbs in Chester, W.Va., a bout in which the aging Tubbs strategically clutched, grabbed and held Minto through most of the fight — and got away with it.

Minto responded from that first defeat by reeling off nine consecutive wins.

Now Minto is 34-4. Two of his three other losses occurred in Germany. The first was to top-10 heavyweight contender Luan Krasniqi in a fight that took place four months after Minto derailed the comeback attempt of Germany's iconic heavyweight, Axel Schulz.

Minto responded from that loss with four consecutive first-round knockout wins.

Now Minto's coming off two straight losses. A bigger and stronger Chris Arreola (27-1) stopped him in the fourth round of their heavyweight fight in Atlantic City. That bout convinced Minto to cut 15 pounds and fight at the cruiserweight level.

His first cruiserweight opponent happened to be WBO champion Marco Huck, in Huck's home country, Germany.

Maybe not a good idea, but when someone hands you a title shot — regardless of time and place — you don't hand it back.

Now he has to respond for a third time.

Minto's ultimate goal is to win a couple of cruiserweight bouts and get another title shot.

This guy has always enjoyed winning for Butler. Now he needs to win for himself.

He needs support from his hometown, too. And he deserves it.