By Eric Thomas: Heavyweight Odlanier Solis (17-1, 12 KO’s) will be fighting for the first time in over a year on Saturday night when he faces Russian Konstantin Airich (23-5-2, 17 KO’s) in a 12 round bout for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title at the Convention Center, in Pharr, Texas.

Forget about the obscure heavyweight title that’ll be on the line for the fight, the real question is how well Solis’ surgically repaired right knee will hold up under the heat of battle. Solis, 32, tore his knee up in the 1st round of his fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali last year in March, and the knee required three separate operations for it heal properly.

However, with a knee that’s had that many operations on it in a short period of time it’s likely that Solis’ knee won’t be even close to being as strong as it once was. Solis can really help himself if he’s taken the time to burn off all the flab that he’s put on since before he turned pro in 2007. As an amateur living in Cuba, Solis was a lean and in shape looking 200 pound fighter. However, since his amateur days ended, Solis has packed on 50 pounds with much of it being useless fat.

Some of it is muscle but a good portion of it blubber. It’s probably too much to ask for Solis to try and burn off 30 to 40 pounds of the fat so that his right knee won’t have to carry around all that extra weight. Solis needs to try, because he’s going to have additional problems in the future if he continues to waddle around carrying 250+ pounds on a small 6’1″ frame that was intended for only 200 pounds.