By Larry Tornambe

Chester, WV - The Harv at Mountaineer Casino near Chester, West Virginia served up some home cooking for heavyweight Brian Minto in a scheduled for 12-round duel against Chad Van Sickle.  “The Beast” Minto is from ‘not that far away’ Bulter, Pennsylvania and had plenty of crowd support in West Virginia’s northern pan-handle.  Chad Van Sickle arrived from Columbus, Ohio with a 22-7-2 record and had hopes of winning the silly WBA trinket that doesn’t deserve a mention.  The opening heat was so devoid of action that the fighters decided to pound each other after the bell rang.

Minto scored the harder punch to Van Sickle’s ear, robbing the Ohio fighter of his equilibrium.   Between rounds the doctor recommended a stoppage because of possible eardrum damage.  Brian Minto earned the TKO victory at the end of round 1 and improves to 30-2 with 19 KO’s.

The rematch between Verquan “the Show” Kimbrough and Rodney “Pit Bull” Jones was very different from their first meeting in 2007.  Jones had Kimbrough down 3 times in the 12th round but lost the decision.  This time around, Kimbrough lead behind his jab and scorched several left right combinations; which forced Jones’ left eyelid to swell and his head to constantly snap back.  Verquan started launching a body attack in the 7th of a scheduled 10-rounder for another of the silly, minor regional belts.  Verquan took too long to close the distance between he and the tough-chinned Jones, who was comical in missing punches and stumbling off balance to the canvas.

Kimbrough, who won the USBA lightweight belt in December, needed to win more impressively against the totally outclassed Jones to validate his belt holding position.  Kimbrough (20-1-1; 7KO’s) was extremely effective going to the head and later showed solid body work, but never combined the two for an attack worthy of world champion candidate.  Kimbrough got the wide unanimous decision (100-90, 99-91, 98-92) in a bout that should have been stopped by the 7th.  Jones was stationery and rarely showed more than one-punch-at-a-time offense falls to 27-8.

Nicolai Firtha allowed Carlton Johnson to capture the 1st round in their scheduled-for-8 heavyweight clash. Johnson (15-16; 12KO’s) looked like he may be able to catch lightening in a bottle during the afternoon boxing card. But Firtha figured everything out by the 2nd stanza, moved forward effectively and dropped Johnson.  Firtha (244lbs) really poured it on in the 3rd, showing the intensity that Kimbrough needed to display, and clobbered Johnson to the ropes and to the canvas for a TKO win at 2:37 of the 3rd.  Firtha is 14-4-1 with 7 KOs). 

Undercard Action:

Middleweights: Dave Cook W TKO 2nd Mike Melbar

Heavyweights: Branden Lee (Iron Lion) Hinkle TKO 1

Billy Greenawalt

Super Middles: Jimmy Lubash TKO 3 Robert Wilder

Welterweights: Tom Joseph Maj Dec. 4 Cliff Gregory

Mountaineer Casino promoted these bouts in association with Thoroughbred Boxing.  Both are tentatively lining up an ESPN2 date for July at the thoroughbred  race

track/slot/casino facility.