Heavyweight Action in Upstate New York: Tony Grano KOs Brian Minto in 3

On Saturday, January 28th, the Oneida Nation's Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York played host to an action-packed card of professional boxing, capped off by a main event which saw Connecticut heavyweight prospect Tony  Grano, 19-2-1 (15), pick up the biggest win of his career by KOing former world tittle challenger Brian Minto, 35-5 (22), in the third round. 

Grano, whose previous career highlights included a thrilling fourth-round knockout of Travis Kaufman that was broadcast on ShoBox, demonstrated once more that he is clearly a heavyweight puncher. After two close, feeling-out rounds, Grano unloaded quickly in the third, dropping Minto with an explosive combination. 

Minto made it back to his feet and fought gamely, bringing the crowd to its feet. But Grano demonstrated professional composure, as he finished off his badly-hurt opponent. He put Minto down again and the fight was done.

Grano, who was KO'd in two rounds himself by journeyman Nicolai Firtha only two fights ago, is clearly still a long way off from being discussed as a potential title challenger, but he demonstrated again that he is a quality professional who can make exciting fights in the heavyweight division. 

In the co-main event, cruiserweight Eric Fields of Ardmore, OK improved to 20-1 (14) with an easy unanimous decision victory over popular local journeyman Derrick Brown, 13-7-3 (11), of nearby Utica, NY.

After the fight, Fields called out cruisererweight contender BJ Flores, 27-1-1 (17), during an in-ring interview with Gofightlive.com, the website that was broadcasting the card online.

Flores, who won a fight himself on Saturday night, fighting in Springfield, Missouri, would represent a significant rise in class over Fields' recent competition. On Saturday night, Fields showed talent but was, frankly, less than completely impressive against the tough but over-matched Brown.

Still, give credit to Fields for stepping up. A pretty girl with a camera crew put a microphone in front of him and he asks for the biggest challenge that he could think of.

Fields is not unreasonable to want to put himself in the mix at the top of the cruiserweight division. His only loss is to Ola Afobi, who has only lost to Marco Huck and Allan Green.  

The Fighter of the Night Award went to another local fighter, undefeated light heavyweight Ryon McKenzie, who improved to 9-0 (9) with a second-round stoppage of Richard Starnino out of Providence, Rhode Island. McKenzie, a native of the Bahamas, has recently relocated to Canastota, site of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and "Boxing's Hometown."

A great potential match up for McKenzie would be fellow New York State resident and undefeated light heavyweight prospect Sean Monagham, 12(8)-0, of Long Beach.

Monagham, who I saw win twice in Madison Square Garden last fall, including an exciting KO victory on the Cotto-Margarito undercard, has a growing fanbase in New York City. With McKenzie gaining popularity with the up-State fans, this would be an exciting interstate rivalry.