By Jason Kim: Former heavyweight title challenger Odlanier Solis (18-1, 12 KO’s) looked really rusty and more than a little overweight in his 12 round unanimous decision win over Konstantin Airich (23-5-2, 16 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Pharr Convention Center in Pharr, Texas. Solis won by the scores of 118-110, 119-109 and 119-109.

Solis’ hand speed looked good, as did his defense. However, he wasn’t able to fight hard for the full 12 rounds, as he needed to take a lot of rounds off after exerting himself. Luckily for Solis he was facing a fighter with not much in the way of offensive skills other than the ability to land a big shot every now and then.

Solis landed a lot of shots in the last two rounds that had Airich hurt. However, Solis wasn’t able to step it up into a higher gear to try and finish Airich despite him being ready to go.

Solis’ promoter Ahmet Oner said to fightnews.com “I wanted him to send a statement to the Klitschkos. After this performance we know that there is still a long way to go.”

You can say that again. Solis, 267.5, looked to be carrying around and extra 40 pounds of fat on his frame that needed to be trimmed off. The problem Solis has had since turning pro in 2007 is that he’s fighting with a lot of extra weight on his frame and it’s not helping his game any. He’s more like a 210 pound fighter carrying around 50+ pounds of flab that is slowing him down. At this point taking off all that weight would likely weaken him to the point where Solis wouldn’t be able to fight at heavyweight. He’s kind of stuck with the weight I guess, but he could still stand to lose a good 30 pounds to at least get don to 237.

Even at that weight, Solis would be 20+ pounds overweight but at least he could move around the ring a little without gassing out like he did last night. The fat around Solis’ sides looked unsightly and he had several big rolls of fat on his midsection that made him look like he had just climbed off the couch to take the fight without much training.