Looking oddly similar to a fat Monte Barrett, undefeated heavyweight prospect Odlanier Solis (6-0, 4 KOs) struggled in winning a 8-round unanimous decision over 7′ foot Julius Long (15-9, 13 KOs) at the Halle an der Saale, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Solis, 27, the 2004 Cuban Olympic Gold medallist in the heavyweight division, had a lot of problems dealing with Long’s 13 inch height advantage, and spent much of the fight either cautiously studying Long or making wild charges at him in an effort to hit him with a punch.
It was an especially unimpressive performance for Solis, since Long has previously been stopped by heavyweights such as Tye Fields, Samuel Peter and Audley Harrison. Solis, though, appeared just too small and lacking in the power department to have much of an effect on Long. The final judges’ scores were 80-71, 80-72 and 80-71, all for Solis. In the 5th round, Solis knocked Long down with a sweeping right hand that connected to the back of Long’s head, sending him down. The punch, and Solis’ fighting style, reminded me of Samuel Peter, albeit without his considerable power.
In the first round, Long used his reach to land a large number of jabs. The two often clinched in the first round, allowing Long to pound Solis with his right hand. About midway in the round a small cut was opened up on the right corner of Solis’ eye, which the referee ruled was caused by a headbutt. However, I saw no headbutts’ during the round, only Long hitting Solis frequently with left hooks and right hands while in close. Solis missed quite a few punches in the round, and in for the remainder of the fight, seemingly not able to connect due to Long’s height. It didn’t bode well for Solis should he fight against a taller heavyweight like Wladimir Klitschko, who would take advantage of Solis’s reach and height issues, very likely easily stopping him.
In rounds two through four, Solis would continue to control the action with his sporadic attacks. He often would do very little in between, mostly standing still and studying Long, looking for a weakness. When Solis did attack, he would run at Long, looking identical to Samuel Peter, and windmilling his arms. Against a better fighter than Long, Solis would be in big trouble using such an amateur style but Long was rarely able to take advantage of Solis’ wild style of fighting.
In the 5th round, Solis dropped Long with a bigh right hand. However, after he got up, Solis was unable to finish him off due to his inability to land effectively.
In rounds six through eight, Solis continued to dominate most of the action with his harder shots and better work rate. However, it was far from impressive because Solis rarely initiated attacks, as he seemed more intent on conserving his energy.
Overall, a disappointing performance for Solis. He looks badly overweight, perhaps as much as 30-40 lbs and it doesn’t seem as if heavyweight is the right division for him. Only three years ago, he fought at 200 lbs in winning the gold in the 2004 Olympics, and the weight that he’s put on since then has been basically all fat. Sooner or later, he’ll meet up with a better heavyweight that will take advantage of his limited size and conditioning and likely him give him a hint that he doesn’t belong in the heavyweight division. Until then, he’ll continue to fight mostly journeymen in Germany.