By Jim Dower: The March 11 fight between heavyweights Odlanier Solis and Manuel Charr will not be for the interim World Boxing Association heavyweight title. There was news that the Charr-Solis fight would be for the interim WBA title, but the WBA won’t be sanctioning that fight for the interim title.
The WBA already has a mess with Anthony Joshua fighting Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA Super World heavyweight title on April 29, and Fres Oquendo fighting Shannon Briggs for the WBA World heavyweight title. That fight still doesn’t have a date. There will be two heavyweight champions for the WBA soon.
It would confuse some boxing fans if the WBA allowed a third title at heavyweight with Charr and Solis fighting each other for the interim title.
Charr (30-4, 17 KOs) has lost 3 out of his last 7 fights in the last three years of his career, and yet he’s still ranked #7 by the WBA. With that many losses on his record, Charr should probably not be ranked at all in the top 15. When you lose that many fights in such a short period of time, it suggests that you don’t have the talent to be ranked highly.
The WBA has Charr ranked at No.7 for some reason. Charr is ranked above Kubrat Pulev, Dillian Whyte, Jarrell Miller and Christian Hammer in the WBA’s rankings at heavyweight. It’s hard to imagine Charr beating any of those heavyweights.
The 36-year-old Solis (22-3, 14 KOs) has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights. He’s not ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies. Solis was beaten twice by Tony Thompson in 2014 and 2015. In 2011, Vitali Klitschko knocked out Solis in the 1st round. Solis has won his last two fights in beating Aleksandar Todorovic (8-9-1) and Milios Dovedan (2-25). Those guys are not high quality heavyweights.
What’s interesting is Solis’ weight loss. While he was fighting as high as 271 for his second fight against Thompson, he dropped down to 240 for his fight against Dovedan in August of 2016 and 237 for his match against Todorovic. That was the lowest weight of Solis’ career since he turned pro in 2007.
In 2004, Solis won a gold medal in the Olympics representing Cuba. Solis weighed 200lbs back then, and was very fast and very sharp. It’s not likely that Solis will ever get that low again. It’s too bad though. Solis was a very good fighter when he weighed 200.
The Solis vs. Charr fight will be taking place at the Kameha Hotel in Bonn, Germany.