ARENA’s Cuban heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis and “Rainman” Ray Austin are fired up to finally enter the ring for their final elimination bout this Friday (Dec. 17) at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. Solis will enter the ring at 260 lbs. while Austin brought 239 ¾ lbs. to the scale.
“This will be a heck of a fight“, said Don King who will co-promoting the card with Ahmet Öner’s ARENA Sports-Promotion. „We are glad and proud to bring world class heavyweight boxing back to Miami.“
Four-time world amateur champion and 2004 Olympic gold medalist Solis is the favorite to beat Austin and get a shot at World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Vitali Klitschko in early 2011. “I will do what I have to do“, said Solis at the weigh-in. “I recommend all fans to be on time because I won’t take long to get rid off Austin..“
Austin’s answer: “If Solis likes to get fast in, fast out I can help him with that. I will rain on his parade. This is not the first time that I enter the ring being the underdog. And it won’t be the first time that I win a fight that I’m supposed to lose.“
The co-main event features unbeaten International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweigt champion Tavoris Cloud (175 lbs.) defending his belt against hard-hitting Fulgencio Zuniga (174 lbs.) from Colombia. Also on the card: Former world welterweight and light middleweight champion Ricardo “Matador“ Mayorga (162.5 lbs) who takes on Michael „Midnight Stalker“ Walker (160.5 lbs.) in a middleweight eight-rounder.
German heavyweight prospect Erkan Teper (2-0, 233 lbs.) takes on Donato DeMartiis (2-0, 219.5 lbs.) from Miami. In Germany the show will be broadcasted live on Sky starting at 2.00am Saturday morning German time. Sat.1 will do a replay of the main event at 1.10am Sunday morning and also feature the fights re-live online on www.ran.de.
