By Jason Kim: The once muscular and trim Odlanier Solis (17-0, 12 KO’s) has really let his physique go since turning pro, going from an in shape 200 pounds to a heavy 260 fat heavyweight. Packing on all the excess weight on his small 6’1″ frame hasn’t really hurt the 30-year-old Solis as of yet, because he’s been matched carefully against mostly B level fighters since he turned pro in 2007. Recently, Solis defeated 40-year-old Ray Austin to get a shot at WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) on March 19th at the Lanxess Arena, in Cologne, Germany.

Solis is working hard, perhaps for the first time, to try and take off all the excess tonnage that he’s packed on in the form of fat since turning pro. With little more than a month to go before their big fight, things aren’t going to well judging from the recent training photos. Solis still looks very heavy and has noticeable gut. Anything is possible, it’s hard to imagine that Solis will be able to trim off the extra weight that he’s been carrying around with him since he turned pro.

For Solis to have even a remote chance of beating the huge 6’7″ 250 pound Vitali, Solis is going to have to take off at least 50 to 60 pounds of the blubber he’s put on if he wants to beat Vitali. The excess weight has transformed Solis from a once blazing fast heavyweight to a slow, lethargic plodder, who is unable to fight hard for more than a round at a time before gassing out and needing several rounds to recover his wind. That fat has got to go somehow.