By Jason Kim: Few boxing fans are giving the dumpy-looking unbeaten heavyweight challenger Odlanier Solis (17-0, 12 KO’s) any chance at beating WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) in their fight on March 19th at the Lanxess-Arena, in Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Solis, a fighter with little experience at heavyweight against quality fighters, has been getting heavier and heavier in recent years.

Only 6’1″, Solis has been fighting in the upper 260s as of late. However, WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) thinks that Solis might be a problem for the 39-year-old Vitali in this fight.

Speaking with Sky Sports Ringside, Haye said “Fingers crossed that he [Vitali] gets through Solis. I think it’s going to be a tough fight if Solis is in shape.”

Why Haye cares about Vitali winning is a mystery, because Haye doesn’t plan on fighting Vitali before retiring and hasn’t shown any interest in mixing it up with him. Perhaps Haye is just keeping his options open if he decides not to retire later on this year in October. Haye is presently negotiating for a fight with number #2 WBA contender Alexander Povetkin. Haye’s number #1 mandatory contender Ruslan Chagaev likely won’t be given permission by the British Boxing Board of Control to enter the UK and fight Haye because of Chagaev’s past problems with Hepatitis B. Haye can always fight Chagaev in Germany, but it doesn’t look like Haye wants to take that kind of chance. Chagaev is a southpaw, has better power than Povetkin and seems to be a trickier fighter as well. It’s not surprising that Haye would prefer to fight Povetkin rather than Chagaev because if Haye can’t knock Chagaev out, he could very well lose that fight.

As for Vitali vs. Solis, it’s hard to imagine Solis beating Vitali. Solis looked fat and winded in his fight against 40-year-old Ray Austin last December. That version of Solis will get knocked out by Vitali. Solis has been between 247 to 271 since turning pro in 2007. That’s just too much weight for him to carry around. As an amateur, Solis weighed 200 pounds. The weight that Solis has put on since his amateur career ended appears to be almost pure fat. Taking off 60 pounds of fat would likely leave Solis too weak to fight. As such, he’s pretty much in trouble no matter what weight he comes into against Vitali. It may be that Haye is worried about Vitali because Haye was stopped by Solis as an amateur. He might not want to see Vitali do well against a guy that had him on the deck and beat him.