By Jim Dower: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) will be defending his World Boxing Council title on March 19th against Cuban Odlanier Solis (17-0, 12 KO’s) at the Lanxess-Arena, in Cologne, Germany. Solis, 30, was made the mandatory challenger for Vitali after beating 40-year-old Ray Austin by a 10th round disqualification on December 17th last year.
Solis, a 2004 Olympic heavyweight Gold Medalist for Cuba, is under the impression that Vitali isn’t exactly enthusiastic about fighting him and thinks that Vitali was trying to get out of the fight by making low offers and failing to respond to counter offers made by Solis and his team. Indeed, Vitali doesn’t seem eager to fight Solis, but not because he fears him but rather that there’s not much money in facing the little known Solis and it’s a fight that won’t gain Vitali much attention or respect if he beats him.
Solis hasn’t helped himself by not fighting often in the past two years, and by choosing poor opponents and letting his weight get way out of hand. Solis has faced guys like Monte Barrett, Kevin Burnett, Carl Davis Drummond, and Dominique Alexander in the past couple of years. These aren’t the kind of opponents Solis needed for him to gain attention. However, they did help Solis pad his record nicely and keep him unbeaten but at a cost of having boxing writers and fans ignore him.
Speaking to fightnews.com, Vitali said this about Solis: “I know Solis is a very tough opponent and I will not underestimate him.”
This could be Solis’ one big shot at the big time. If he blows it and gets humiliated in a serious beat down by Vitali, he’s going to have to get back in line and work his way back to another shot. Hopefully, Solis promoter will put him in with some live bodies after this fight and get him to drop some weight. At 260, Solis appears to be carrying around 40 to 50 pounds of excess fat on his short 6’1″ frame. That weight has got to go if he wants to beat the best heavyweights in the world and not just old guys like Barrett and Austin.
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