by James Slater – It has been announced how an intriguing match-up of unbeaten and promising heavyweight contenders will take place on August 15th at The Hard Rock in Las Vegas. US heavyweight Kevin “King Pin” Johnson will take on Cuban big man Odlanier Solis on the under-card of the Nonio Donaire-Rafael Concepcion title fight, ESPN. com’s Dan Rafael has written. A risky fight for both heavyweights who have aspirations of one day becoming world champion, Johnson, 22-0-1(9) and Solis, 14-0(10) must be applauded for proving they believe in themselves enough to take the fight. Rafael writes how Carl Moretti of Top Rank (co-promoter of the Cuban defector) and Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing (Johnson’s promoter) came to an agreement this past Monday night, and that the fight is now a go.
“The paperwork is being drawn up but everything has been agreed to,” Moretti told ESPN. “It’s an important fight for both guys.”
DeGuardia is confident his fighter will win the potentially exciting battle, even though he admits it could be tough..
“I think it’s a difficult fight in terms of style, but Kevin wants to show he can beat anyone out there,” DeGuardia said. “David Haye won’t step to the plate, Chris Arreola won’t step to the plate and the Klitschko brothers are occupied. So we are looking to make statements and this is a statement fight. We want to make a mark so that Showtime and HBO wake up and see there is a real heavyweight in America.”
Chris Arreola aside, Johnson would probably be seen as America’s best young heavyweight right now, were it not for Eddie Chambers’ impressive, slimmed-down victory over Alexander Dimitrenko in Germany on Saturday. But DeGuardia is right when he says his fighter deserves to be seen on a big TV network himself. If the 29-year-old known as “King Pin” can beat Solis in style, he may well have arrived on the big stage.
Coming off his most impressive win to date as he is – having stopped former US Olympic team captain Devin Vargas in May – Johnson will be hoping to knock off his second Olympian in a row; as DeGuardia said.
“Kevin will be meeting his second undefeated Olympian in a row,” he said. “The heavyweight division could be alive with a guy like Kevin with his jab and his mouth. This is the kind of fight that will give the winner a lot of recognition.”
Solis, less experienced than Johnson as a pro, won a gold medal in 2004, and the 29-year-old is tipped for the top by many. Both men have shown they can put their money where their mouth is by putting pen to paper for this fight.
With the powerful Arreola on the scene, the new and improved Chambers looking better than ever and now these two going at it, maybe the heavyweight division is on the way back up after all!