Olympic gold medallist Odlanier Solis and former world heavyweight champion Francois Botha were meant to meet in the ring in December 2007 but the “White Buffalo” drew in his horns on very short notice. Now everything is set and the contracts are signed for the fight to take place on May 30th in Bilbao, Spain..
Odlanier Solis
Boxing News: Chuck Giampa, Odlanier Solis, Andre Ward
Chuck Giampa, one of the top boxing judge’s in the world, has retired from his position as a boxing judge to pursue a career as a boxing consultant and continue as a sports columnist. Giampa was appointed as a judge in 1984 and has had an illustrious career, judging many memorable championship fights including the Holyfield-Tyson II “Bite Night” fight and the Holyfield-Bowe “Fan Man” fight..
Solis Defeats Salif
By Nick Adams: Former 2004 heavyweight Olympic Gold medalist for the Cuban National team Odlanier Solis (8-0, 5 KOs) won an easy 10-round unanimous decision over American Cisse Salif (22-10-2, 20 KOs) on Friday night at the Zenith – Die Kulturhalle, in Munich, Bayern, Germany. Solis, 27, won every round of the fight quite easily, though he looked almost diminutive compared to the 6’4″ 265 lb. Salif, who took Solis’ best shots with relative ease. This was perhaps the only negative for Solis, in that he doesn’t appear to have the size to compete against the bigger heavyweights like Wladimir Klitschko and some of the other big heavyweights.
At 6’0″ 246 lb. Solis is both short and round, and with his recent weight loss of close to 1o lbs, he seems weaker than before. His style somewhat reminds me of a cross between Monte Barrett and a weak version of Lamon Brewster. I suppose that’s a compliment, for both of those fighters are good, but I still see Solis as nothing but a gate keeper as long as he stays in the heavyweight division. He badly needs to trim off the 40+ pounds of fat that he’s piled on since turning professional and defecting from Cuba to Germany.
Solis Stops Rajkai
By Eric Thomas: Former heavyweight 2004 Gold medal winner Odlanier Solis (7-0, 5 KOs) destroyed his badly overmatched opponent Adrian Rajkai (15-7, 4 KOs) in the third round of a scheduled eight-round bout on Friday night at the Palalido, in Milano, Lombardia, Italy. Solis, 27, knocked Rajkai down three times, once in the 2nd round and three times in the 3rd round before the bout was stopped by referee Francesco De Ruvo with Rajkai seemingly out cold after absorbing a big hand from Solis.
Among his 2004 Olympic gold medal, Solis was also the six time Cuban National Champion between 1999-2004 while fighting as an amateur. Perhaps for this reason, as well as his increasing age, Solis needs to consider stepping up the level of his opposition in the near future, for he appears to be gaining little by defeating overmatched fighters like Rajkai, whom he knocked around the ring like a punching bag from the first round until the end in the third round.
Solis Decisions Long
Looking oddly similar to a fat Monte Barrett, undefeated heavyweight prospect Odlanier Solis (6-0, 4 KOs) struggled in winning a 8-round unanimous decision over 7′ foot Julius Long (15-9, 13 KOs) at the Halle an der Saale, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Solis, 27, the 2004 Cuban Olympic Gold medallist in the heavyweight division, had a lot of problems dealing with Long’s 13 inch height advantage, and spent much of the fight either cautiously studying Long or making wild charges at him in an effort to hit him with a punch.
It was an especially unimpressive performance for Solis, since Long has previously been stopped by heavyweights such as Tye Fields, Samuel Peter and Audley Harrison. Solis, though, appeared just too small and lacking in the power department to have much of an effect on Long. The final judges’ scores were 80-71, 80-72 and 80-71, all for Solis. In the 5th round, Solis knocked Long down with a sweeping right hand that connected to the back of Long’s head, sending him down. The punch, and Solis’ fighting style, reminded me of Samuel Peter, albeit without his considerable power.
Solis Stops Bates
Former 2004 heavyweight Olympic gold medalist for the Cuban team, Odlanier Solis (5-0, 4 KOs) obliterated American Jeremy Bates (21-15-1, 18 KOs) in the 2nd round tonight at the Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, in Berlin, Germany. Using mostly uppercuts and powerful body shots, Solis pounded away at Bates, 33, knocking him down in the 1st round, and then hurting him badly in the 2nd round with a devastating right uppercut that sent him to the ropes where the referee moved in and halted the bout.
Solis, 27, looked remarkably overweight at 250+ pounds, 50 more than he weighed in three years ago when he won the heavyweight gold medal in the 2004 Olympics. I suppose Solis feels that he needs the weight to compete in the heavyweight division, where the money is better than the cruiserweight division – where Solis should really be fighting at his height (six feet). However, mixed in with all the blubber that Solis has put on there’s a decent amount of muscle, which makes him effective against the unskilled heavyweights in the division like Bates.
Solis Stops McGee
Heavyweight prospect Odlanier Solis (4-0, 3 KOs) TKO’d the old trial horse journeyman Marcus McGee (19-14, 9 KOs) in the 2nd round on Friday night at the Hansehalle, Luebeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Solis, the 2004 Olympic heavyweight Gold medallist from Cuba, knocked McGee down with a combination followed by a short chopping right to the head in the 2nd round. McGee was able to make it to his feet but was badly hurt, causing the referee Arno Pokrandt to halt the fight at 2:14 of the 2nd round.
Solis, 27, showed excellent speed in the first round of the fight as he attacked McGee with blistering fast left hooks to the head and midsection. Solis fought mostly in short, explosive bursts in which he would suddenly spring a fast attack of two-three punches. McGee, 36, was content mostly to jab and slowly move around the ring. Towards the end of the round, Solis began opening up with powerful rights that had McGee backing up.