By William Mackay: Former heavyweight world champion Lennox Lewis sees WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) as having a lot of things in his favor on Saturday night in Vitali’s title defense against unbeaten challenger Odlanier Solis (17-0, 12 KO’s) in Cologne, Germany.

In an article at sportinglife.co.uk, Lewis said “He [Vitali] will have all the advantages against Solis. Solis has a tremendous history and he reminds me of myself with different amateur accolades.”

Solis, 6’1”, is a former 2004 Olympic Gold medalist for Cuba in the heavyweight division. Lewis was a gold medalist as well, but fought in the 1988 Olympics as a super heavyweight. The size difference between Lewis and Solis are huge. The only thing they have in common is that Lewis, like Solis, captured a lot of amateur honors during his amateur career.

Solis has his work cut out for him against the huge 6’7” 250 pound Klitschko, as Solis is going to be giving away a lot in the height, reach and power department. Solis is a great boxer and can throw some nice combinations at times.

However, he’s going to be getting hit an awful lot in this fight against Vitali, and he can’t afford to take the constant rest breaks that he needed in his win against 40-year-old Ray Austin in the WBC heavyweight title eliminator bout last December.

Solis often gassed out if he fought hard for a round or two and then needed a lot of time to recover. It didn’t matter in that fight that Solis needed rest breaks, because Austin was so slow and weak. However, Vitali is a lot stronger and capable of fighting hard for 12 rounds without rest break.