By Dan Ambrose: Heavyweight challenger Odlanier Solis (17-0, 12 KO’s) has his work cut out for him against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) on March 19th at the Lanxess-Arena, in Cologne, Germany. Solis, 6’1″, is six inches shorter than the 6’7″ Vitali and quite a bit fatter than him at 260 lbs compared to the slender 250 pound Vitali. But most importantly, Solis’ lack of stamina will be a huge factor in this fight unless Solis can somehow make improvements on that during his training camp for this bout.

In his last fight against 40-year-old Ray Austin last December, Solis frequently gassed out after expending energy. After hurting Austin in the 5th, Solis needed to rest for many rounds after that because he was too exhausted to throw punches. If this happens with Solis against Vitali, the fight will likely be over very quickly. Solis’ weight has gotten way out of hand since he left the amateur ranks, where he weighed a slender 200. He’s 60 pounds heavier now and that’s not muscle judging by his expanded waistline.

In the past, Vitali used to tired out late in some of his fights. However, he no longer expends a lot of energy like before and is content to throw arm punches rather than winding up to throw big right hands and left hooks like he previously did. By throwing arm punches, Vitali is able to fight at a leisurely pace and yet still dominate his shorter opponents because of his height and reach. Solis is going to have to take the fight to Vitali to try and win this.

If all Solis can do is fight hard for a handful of rounds, he’s going to lose and lose badly. He has to try and tire Vitali out and get him to wear down to the point where he can be stopped. The problem is Solis is the wrong kind of fighter to do that. It takes a younger heavyweight with conditioning and speed to give Vitali problems and Solis is the opposite of that. He’s fat and gasses out too easily.