By Rahil Sheikh: WBC king Vitali Klitschko earned a first round stoppage victory over formerly unbeaten Oldanier Solis, in what turned out to be a disappointing Saturday night for the 19,000 packed crowd in Cologne, Germany.

Solis (17-1, 12 KO’s) a 2008 Olympic gold medalist for Cuba, was wobbled at 2 minutes 50 seconds of the first round by what appeared to be a glancing straight right to the temple – but then stumbled down to the canvas and appeared to hurt his right knee.

As referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia began his count, Solis struggled to make it to his feet, using the ropes to hold himself up he managed to make it up in time for the 8 count but seemed in huge discomfort with his right knee.

Subsequently, referee Garcia deemed Solis unable to continue and stopped the fight, resulting in Vitali Klitschko being awarded the knockout victory improving to a record of 42-2, 39 KO’s.

Not only did this prompt an echo of jeers from the 19,000 boxing fans inside the Lanxess-Arena, but Vitali Klitschko himself showed his frustration buy angrily confronting Solis – in what Klitschko believed to be a premature end to the fight.

When asked by Ian Darke of Sky Sports whether or not he thought Solis had given up, Klitsckho said: “No idea. It will be very interesting to listen to what the doctors say after the medical exam. He took a really hard punch but after that he won’t fight. I don’t know.”

He added: “It was a hard punch from me. I have a nickname, Ironfist. I’m sorry for everybody who wanted to see a long fight but I hit him pretty hard with my right hand – and it was enough.”

Initially the fight was looking promising with Solis imposing his speed landing quick combinations and catching Vitali with clean shots early in round 1.

Vitali showed ring generalship and had established his jab for mostly judging his range but not landing anything of note as Solis demonstrated good footwork around the ring.

However it was all over when Vitali landed a short straight right hand late in the first round that appeared to glance Solis on the temple who then injured his right knee as he fell to the canvas.

Vitali concluded the night by saying: “I have a feeling nobody in the world can beat me.”