Mention the name of Odlanier Solis and the average boxing fan might say “Who?” However, to those in the know the outrageously gifted Cuban émigré might just represent the best of the current crop of Heavyweight contenders and a potential World Heavyweight Champion.
Record Breaking Amateur Career
Solis is one of the most titled and successful amateur boxers of recent vintage. Olympic Heavyweight Champion in Athens 2004, this merely represented the final gloss on an unpaid career that encompassed no less than three world amateur titles. Solis turned professional in 2005 with a final amateur slate of 227-14.
His list of amateur victims reads like a who’s who of the current heavyweight contenders. David Haye, Sultan Ibragimov and Alexander Alexeev were all forced to bow to the gifted Havana native’s fistic supremacy. Solis even took the scalp of legendary Cuban superstar Felix Savon (winning two of three encounters) while punching his way to no less than seven Cuban championships at Heavyweight and Super-Heavyweight.
As an amateur Solis flaunted his quicksilver hand speed, lateral movement and adroit defensive skills. He won titles on the road in Athens, Belfast, Bangkok and Winnipeg making a name for himself as one of the world’s finest amateur boxers. Defecting from Cuba, while on national team duty in Venezuela, Solis has begun to make a name for himself while punching for pay. However, not all of the acclamation as been positive.
Weight Problems
Solis boxed at 201 pounds in Athens and at this weight he was able to utilise his superior mobility, ring guile and in-ring skills. However, his professional career has been something of a different story. Solis made his professional debut at a portly 257-½ pounds, defeating Andreas Sidon (32-7) in Hamburg. In his most recent fight, an impressive two round blow out of former contender Monte Barrett, Solis weighed in at a whopping 271 pounds. What can possibly account for this shocking increase in weight, made all the more puzzling when one considers that Solis stands a mere 6’1 ½’’ tall?
Theories abound: Solis’ relatively new found freedom has precipitated a love of partying and late nights according to some. Others feel than in the current age of titanic heavyweights any prospective contender needs to back on the bulk in order to be successful. Whatever the reason what is inarguable is that Solis is carrying far too much excess bulk. He managed to make the 218-pound Barrett look positively anaemic in their October encounter.
The heavyweight scene of the 1980’s was replete with champions and contenders noted as much for their porcine girth as their in-ring abilities. Tony Tubbs and Tim Witherspoon managed to annexe alphabet titles while looking as if they had been rolled out of the nearest all you can eat buffet. Tubbs in particular fought way in excess of his most effective fighting weight. Even so, at the age of thirty-three, he was able to extend a streaking Riddick Bowe in a fight many thought he won. Who knows what Tubbs, like Solis technically sound and possessed of blazing hand speed, might have accomplished had his will matched his skill.
At Twenty-nine he should be approaching his professional and athletic peak, yet who is to say what damage has already been done to a metabolism previously attuned to the Spartan rigours of the Cuban training camp. Solis needs to realise that his time is now. With the Klitschko brothers ageing and a relatively unthreatening list of current heavyweight contenders representing his immediate peer group, Solis has a superb chance of ascending the throne, should he knuckle down and devote himself whole-heartedly.
He should consider the recent implosion of Cristobal Arreola a cautionary tale. Arreola, at 6’4’’, a far bigger man, allowed his weight to balloon, trained only fitfully and saw his chance of annexing Vitali Klitschko’s title go up in smoke before he ever reached the ring in Los Angeles. Conditioning is of paramount importance and the quicker the Cuban recognises this fact the better.
Potentially the Complete Heavyweight
Yet for all his elephantine girth Solis is a superbly gifted fighter. Matched tough at the start of his career he has boxed rings around everyone put in front of him. He punches with authority, takes relatively few punches (a testimony to the years of schooling in the crucible of the Cuban amateur scene) and possesses a crisp and hurtful jab. It is possible that he is gifted enough to overcome his self-imposed handicaps. The skills were all on show against Barrett. Yet he doesn’t look like a potential heavyweight great. While body beautiful David Haye prepares for the biggest night of his professional career next month against Valuev, his former amateur nemesis may find his progress increasingly retarded should he continue to pile on the pounds.
At 15-0 (11 KO’s) Solis has the potential to bring something new to the heavyweight scene. In an age of cumbersome though formidable athletes he represents a welcome reminder of the days when heavyweights possessed poise, skill and flair. The Klitschko’s dominance is producing a dearth of marketable contenders. Aside from Haye, Povetkin and Tua the cupboard is rather bare. The young guns are conspicuous by their absence, with only Russia’s streaking, though raw Denis Boytsov making any significant headlines. At twenty-nine the Cuban has the world at his feet, though only if he is able to only avoid the temptations of his new life, apply himself in training and dedicate himself to getting in shape.
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