A bowed and bloodied Shane Cameron is not making any decisions on boxing future after a cut above an eye forced an early end to his heavyweight bout against American Brian Minto.

Minto tagged the 36-year-old with a right hook in the third round in Auckland to open the skin above his left eye and after inflicting more damage the Cameron camp did not allow him to come out for the eight round.

The technical knockout takes Cameron's record to 29-4 while Minto, who won the WBO Oriental belt with the stoppage, now boasts a 39-7 record.

But Cameron, boxing for the first time in more than a year, refused to call time on his career after the bout despite saying if he lost it would bring his career to a grinding halt.

"I'm not making any decision at the moment," he said.

But his hopes of a tilt a world title are surely over after being out-fought by the 38-year-old from Pennsylvania whose fight plan, devised by trainer Kevin Barry, had Cameron on the back foot from the outset.

Minto kept coming at Cameron to put the New Zealand fighter under pressure and allow his superior work in close quarters to pay dividends.

"It's a good Christmas present," he said.

He had already won the opening two rounds, including rocking his opponent in the second round, before opening a cut above Cameron's eye.

The bout turned into a bit of a brawl as Minto took to illegal tactics to ram home his advantage and was docked a point in the fifth and sixth rounds for using an elbow and a headbutt.

"It was not intentional," he said after the fight.

Cameron tried to rally in the seventh round after being told by his corner they were going to stop the fight after the round, but with blood blurring his vision he could not find a knockout blow.

"You can't fight with one eye," trainer Ken Reinsfield said after the bout.