By James Slater – His promoter, Ahmet Oner insists he is the most talented heavyweight out there today, as well as being the biggest threat to the Klitschkos (Vitali especially) and a number of fans agree that an in-shape Odlanier Solis would give any fighter a hard time. The well documented problem, however, is getting Cuba’s Solis in shape!
An exceptional amateur, who won a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, Solis has had a tough time getting below the 250-pound mark ever since his defection from his homeland. “La Sombra” did get down to 246 for his disastrous WBC title challenge of Vitali Klitschko, but a knee injury felled him in a massively disappointing 2 minutes and 59-seconds. David Haye, for one critic, put the knee injury down to the excess weight Solis’ joints had been forced to carry.
Since the humiliating loss (and the surgery and subsequent recuperation that came after), Solis has kept a low profile; leaving Oner to do the tough talking. Winning just one fight since the March 2011 loss to “Dr. Iron Fist” (a workman-like 12-round UD victory over Konstantin Airich this past May), the 32-year-old gets back in the ring in September, on the Tomasz Adamek-Travis Walker card in Newark, New Jersey.
By James Slater – As those fans who were lucky enough to have seen him fight live, in the flesh (really lucky!) or from their armchair (must-see T.V!), Great Britain’s great middleweight/super-middleweight Nigel Benn rarely if ever disappointed in the action stakes.
By Rob Smith: Evander Holyfield, 49, is hoping that one of the Klitschko brothers will give him a fight so that Holyfield can try and capture another heavyweight world title before he retires someday. Holyfield hasn’t been ranked in the top tier for quite some time in the heavyweight division so it’s going to be a tad difficult for him to get one of the Klitschkos to bite on his offer.