By Dave Lahr: Unbeaten heavyweight contender Odlanier Solis (14-0, 10 KO’s) will be fighting Monte Barrett (34-7, 20 KO’s) in a 10 round bout on October 10th Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York. Solis, 29, a 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist for Cuba, was supposed to be fighting Kevin Johnson initially, but he bailed out on the fight to take a fight with World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.

Next, Solis was supposed to be fighting Fres Oquendo, but he also pulled out recently, leaving Solis having to scramble for an opponent at the last second. Luckily, Barrett was available to take the fight at short notice. This may or not be a better choice depending on whether Barrett’s chin holds out on him. He fell apart in his fight with David Haye last year in November, getting taken out in the 5th round and dropped multiple times by the British former cruiserweight.

It was a bad night for Barrett, all in all, because not only was he stopped in the 5th by Haye, but Barrett also tripped over the top rope when he tried to come running into the ring and fell on the canvas to a chorus of laughter at the O2 Arena, in London.

However, Barrett had his moments in the fight and appeared to hurt Haye at point in the 5th with a left hand. I don’t know that Barrett will be able to duplicate the feat against Solis, because the Cuban fighter appears to have a sturdy chin and might not be effected by Barrett’s power shots. In terms of hand speed, Solis clearly has the better speed of the two.

He punches fast for a fighter that appears to be 25 to 30 pounds overweight. Solis has weight consistently over 250 through most of his two year pro career. That may sound like a lot, but when you realize that he’s only 6’1″, and used to fight at 200 only five years ago as an amateur, it’s not a good sign. Solis looks like he could stand to lose some weight but I seriously doubt he’ll ever fight below 250 for the remainder of his career. If anything, we may be soon seeing Solis fighting consistently in the 260s. Once he reaches the 270 plateau, I imagine his days as a heavyweight contender will be numbered.

Barrett, who has fought and lost to the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Hasim Rahman, Joe Mesi, Nikolay Valuev and Dominick Guinn, could cause Solis some problems if he comes out guns blazing firing big power shots. But, if Barrett fights slowly and allows Solis to dictate the pace, then you can expect to see Barrett taken out by the 8th round.

It’s unclear how well Barrett has kept himself in shape with the 11 months that he’s been away from the ring. You can imagine that he’ll be a little rusty with the time off and his age may be a factor in this fight. Barrett has got to fire with all cylinders early, because that’s when he’s scored most of his knockouts. Solis is an unknown and if he’s especially heavy in this fight, Barrett may be able to land some big shots and take him out.