By Dave Lahr: Former 2004 heavyweight Olympic Gold Medalist for Cuba Odlanier Solis (15-0, 11 KO’s) looked nothing short of sensational in stopping journeyman Monte Barrett in the 2nd round on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, in New York. Although weighing a bulky 271, the 29-year-old Solis was able to punch with speed and power while taking Barrett out, knocking him down two times in the 2nd round en route to a 2nd round TKO. The first knockdown came about after Barrett, 38, landed a right hand.

Solis immediately fired back a short left hook a fraction of a second after Barrett landed his punch, and succeeded in knocking Barrett down. After the knockdown, Solis waded in, firing big punches with both hands and backing Barrett up to the ropes. Solis finished Barrett off with a blizzard of punches while he stood against the ropes almost helpless to stop the big Cuban.

After the fight, Solis’s promoter Ahmet Oner said that he’d like to have Solis fight the Klitschko brothers. Indeed, that would be a great fight against either of the Klitschko brothers. Solis looks better than the other top heavyweights in the division. Right now, you could probably point out that Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are number #1 and #2 in the heavyweight division.

After them, there are a small handful of heavyweights who are still mostly unproven, such as Eddie Chambers, Kevin Johnson, Alexander Dimitrenko, Chris Arreola, David Haye, Alexander Povetkin, and Denis Boytsov. Beyond them, there are former champions Oleg Maskaev and Samuel Peter. However, Peter already got his chance against both Klitschko brothers and lost to both of them.

Maskaev is 40-years-old and has looked slow in his recent fights. Clearly, Solis is the better fighter by far in my view. Dimitrenko was defeated by Chambers by a 12 round decision in July and looked poor against him, getting knocked down and hurt. Chambers really exposed Dimitrenko as a fighter who has little power and has a questionable chin. Dimitrenko is still learning, but his skills and power don’t match-up well against Solis.

Kevin Johnson (22-0, 9 KO’s) was slated to fight Solis last Saturday night but Johnson backed out of the fight because he had a chance to fight World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko instead. Johnson has a great jab, but he can’t punch. He’s also not as fast as Solis, even the fat 271 pound Solis that showed up for Barrett on Saturday night. Johnson would have major problems facing a fighter with the speed and heavy hands of Solis.

I think Johnson would have been out of his league had he been in there against Solis last Saturday night. He’s lucky he opted not to take the fight with Solis, because Johnson would have likely had a loss and would have missed out on a chance at fighting Vitali Klitschko. Johnson is a good fighter and perhaps the 4th best heavyweight in the division after Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir, and Solis. British heavyweight David Haye is a mystery.

He moved up to the heavyweight division last year, but thus far he’s only faced Monte Barrett and looked average in stopping him. Solis has already stopped Haye in the amateur ranks and my guess is that he’d do it again with ease. Haye wouldn’t stand a chance against Solis. Eddie Chambers is too weak and not good enough to stand up to the heavy shots that Solis would be landing. Chambers has speed but he’s not as fast as Solis.

I personally think Solis could be a problem for Wladimir, mostly because the Ukrainian has a weak chin. If Solis connected with something big, it would be all over for Wladimir. And Solis showed that he’s capable of firing off a quick counter punch within a fraction of a second and he would he a problem for Wladimir if he connected. Vitali, however, would be big obstacle for Solis because of his size and sturdy chin. Solis would probably either get knocked out or take a severe beating from Vitali.