....would he be the second coming of Shannon Briggs? How good really is Brian Minto? I know he is very accurate and can mix things up very quickly, we've all seen that but how well do you think he will compete against the top 10 heavies? As he is right now, he's on par for a Shannon Briggs style career if he doesn't move upward very soon.
I wouldn't even compare him to Briggs. At his peak Briggs was very good fighter. Minto, no offense to him, is a couple notches above a club fighter but nowhere close to being a top 10 guy. If you put him in with, say, Tony Thompson, you'd see a huge difference in class.
I would say he is better than that, he went in last night against a total tackling dummy and did exactly what he should have done with ease, he demolished the other guys lack of skills. I think Minto has very polished boxing skills and could start moving upward with little problem. The guy knows what he is doing in there, if he didnt then Teddy Atlas wouldnt have been schlobknobbin him. Cause you know, Teddy is the best there ever was.
You put Minto up against the right guy he'll look like a world-beater. His accuracy is pretty good as is his speed, but his head and foot movement need work. He gets hit way too easily and any top ten guy could either outbox him or counter him to death.
Minto is a Top fighter. He has punching power, speed and quite a good chin. The main difference to Briggs is: Minto has real good stamina and a high workrate. With 5,11 he might be a little bit to small for a heavyweight. But if he wants to get to a Titel shot he has to develope his defense, because the defense is not very good. In my opinion Minto won the Fight against Krasniqi with 114-113, but in Germany (as an American fighter) you have to knock the guys out if you want to win. Damn shame.
