Odlanier Solís

Odlanier Solís Fonte (born 5 April 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the WBC heavyweight title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an amateur heavyweight, Solis was one of the most celebrated and decorated amateur stars of the 2000s, winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics, and three consecutive golds at the World Championships in 2001, 2003, and 2005.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Solís and the second or maternal family name is Fonte.

Odlanier Solís
Statistics
Real nameOdlanier Solís Fonte
Nickname(s)La Sombra ("The Shadow")
Weight(s)Heavyweight
Height6 ft 1 1⁄2 in (187 cm)
Reach79 in (201 cm)
NationalityCuban
Born (1980-04-05) 5 April 1980
Havana, Cuba
StanceOrthodox
Boxing record
Total fights25
Wins22
Wins by KO14
Losses3
Medal record
Men's amateur boxing
Representing  Cuba
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 0 0
World Championships 3 0 0
Pan American Games 2 0 0
World Cup 0 1 0
Total 6 1 0
Olympic Games
2004 Athens Heavyweight
World Championships
2001 Belfast Heavyweight
2003 Bangkok Heavyweight
2005 Mianyang Super heavyweight
Pan American Games
1999 Winnipeg Heavyweight
2003 Santo Domingo Heavyweight
World Cup
2005 Moscow Super heavyweight

Amateur career

His first international success was in 1998, winning the title at the Pan American Juniors championship in Toluca and the Juniors World championship in Buenos Aires.

In 1999 he won the Cuban championship beating Félix Savón. Until 2004 he defended his title five times consecutively.

In 2005 he switched from heavyweight to super heavyweight and lost in the finale to Michel López Núñez. In 2006 he won the title again for a seventh time.

He was part of the Cuban team that won the 2006 Boxing World Cup.[1]

His record was 227 victories, 14 losses. He never lost at a major event (world championships, Olympics) and beat fellow Cuban Félix Savón in two of their three fights. One of those fights was in the Cuban Olympic boxing trial finals in 2000, and the win normally would have allowed Solis to fight in Sydney. Savon, however, was the two-time defending Olympic champion and a gold medal would have equaled the record that László Papp of Hungary and countryman Teófilo Stevenson set with three consecutive boxing gold medals. Thus, Savon was given the spot over Solis, who did not participate in the Olympics at all.

World Championships

Solís became world champion in 2001 in Belfast and in 2003 in Bangkok at heavyweight (201 lbs/91 kg limit), in 2005 in Mianyang at super heavyweight.

In 2001 he beat Russian Olympic silver medalist of 2000 Sultan Ibragimov in the semifinals on points and in the final British David Haye by TKO. Haye gave Solis a standing eight count in the first round and was up by 7 points, but Solis came back strong, turned the score around in the second round and won the fight by stoppage in the third. At the time of stoppage, score was 31–17 in favour of Solis.

In 2003 he won on points in the final against Russian archrival Aleksandr Alekseyev who would win the next world championship. Also, Solis defeated Sultan Ibragimov once more (13-7) in four rounds in the XXXIII Chemistry Cup in Halle, Germany, on March 10, 2002.

Olympic Games

Solis earned a spot on the Cuban Olympic boxing team for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and succeeded the three-time champion Savon as the heavyweight gold medalist.

Amateur highlights

Olympic Games
  • 2004 in Athens, Greece (heavyweight)
    • Defeated Aleksandr Alekseyev (Russia) 24–21
    • Defeated Wilmer Vasquez (Venezuela) 24–4
    • Defeated Naser Al Shami (Syria) RSC–3 (1:29)
    • Defeated Viktar Zuyev (Belarus) 22–13

World Cup
  • 2005 in Moscow, Russia (heavyweight)

Pan American Games

World Junior Championships
  • 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina (heavyweight)
    • Defeated Steffen Kretschmann (Germany) 8–1
    • Defeated Evgeniy Arkhipov (Russia) 8–2
    • Defeated Sebastian Ceballos (Argentina) 7–5

Others
  • Three times World Senior Champion (2001, 2003, 2005)
  • Six time Cuban National Champion (1999–2004)
  • Chemiepokal – 2002, 2003, 2004
  • Central American and Caribbean Championships – 1999
  • Pan American Boxing Championships – 2005

Notable defeated fighters

Solís finished his amateur career with a record of 227 wins, 14 losses.

Defection

He defected from the national Cuban boxing team in December 2006, during training in Venezuela for the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro. With him, came two fellow amateurs and reigning Olympic champions, Yan Barthelemí Varela and Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano. After escaping to Colombia, they arrived in Miami. Solís, who plans to reside in Germany, signed a professional promotional contract with German-based First Artist.

Professional career

Solís made his professional debut on 27 April 2007, weighing in at a much higher weight at 250+ lbs than as an amateur (where he weighed at a solid 200 lbs) but knocked out 32–7 veteran Andreas Sidon 47 seconds into the first round. In the next 18 months he racked up an 11–0 record against creditable opposition at this stage of a professional career, and in October 2008 he defeated Chauncy Welliver for the WBC international heavyweight title.

Solís vs. Barrett

Solis fighting out of Miami, Florida, made his third successful defense of the WBC International Heavyweight title with a second round stoppage of Monte Barrett of Queens, New York. Solis, now 15–0 with 11 KOs, a Cuban defector with an extensive amateur career, fought a very cautious first as a careful counterpuncher, preferring to feel out the experienced Barrett, age 38, 34–8, 20 KOs, to see if he had anything left. In the second, Solis opened up with a long left to Barrett's chin that decked him. Barrett just beat the count. In the barrage from Solis that followed, Barrett went down from a slip under pressure, got up, then got knocked out.

Solís vs. Drumond

On 20 March 2010, Solis fought and defeated Carl Davis Drumond by fourth-round TKO to retain his WBC International Heavyweight title and to win the WBA Fedelatin Heavyweight title. After toying with Drumond for the first three rounds Solis unleashed a barrage of punches during the last 20 second of round three and would have knocked Drumond down had he not been saved by the ropes, making Drumond not want to come out for the fourth round.

Solís vs. Vitali Klitschko
Main article: Vitali Klitschko vs. Odlanier Solís

Solis defeated Ray Austin in a WBC title eliminator when Austin was disqualified in the 10th round. Solis connected with combinations to the head in the 10th, with Austin seemingly out on his feet and repeatedly holding Solis to avoid additional shots. The win set up Solis to fight Vitali Klitschko, becoming the mandatory challenger.[2][3] On 11 January, it was official confirmed that the fight between Vitali Klitschko and Solís was going to take place in Cologne, Germany, on 19 March 2011. Both fighters promised a victory by knockout.

On 19 March 2011, the two boxers took to the ring in front of a sell-out crowd of over 19,000. In the first round of the fight, after the ten-second warning bell rang, Solis threw a left and right which didn't connect, to Klitschko's chin. Vitali Klitschko returned the favor with a short right to Solis's left temple. What followed has been extensively debated by fans and pundits. Some claim that as he was already falling to the ground, Solis injured his right knee while making an effort to prevent himself from hitting the ground. Others maintain that he simply injured his knee, while backpedalling, and was unable to continue. Some believe he was injured prior to the bout but didn't disclose it for fear of not getting paid. The slow motion shows that he was momentarily stunned by the almost grazing temple punch, and his foot froze to the canvas, whilst his leg and body continued backwards, causing an injury to his ankle. He was not able to continue and the fight was ruled a 1st rd KO.

Post Klitschko comeback

Solis launched a comeback following his rehabilitation from knee surgery and scored four consecutive victories over the next three years including points wins over Konstantin Airich and undefeated prospect Leif Larsen. Problematically though it seemed Solis had lost a certain amount of his punching power and foot speed.

Consecutive losses and decline

In 2015 Solis lost two consecutive bouts to former world title challenger, veteran, Tony Thompson. The first was by a close split decision and the second by TKO as Solis retired in his corner for reasons unknown midway through the bout. Since his losses to Thompson Solis has won two bouts against low level opposition. His current ranking according to boxrec is 42 in the world and there has been no speculation regarding a substantive ring return.

Professional boxing record
Professional record summary
25 fights 22 wins 3 losses
By knockout 14 2
By decision 7 1
By disqualification 1 0
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
25 Win 22–3 Aleksandar Todorovic PTS 8 17 Sep 2016 Göppingen, Germany
24 Win 21–3 Milos Dovedan KO 2 (6), 1:53 4 Aug 2016 ECB Boxgym, Hamburg, Germany
23 Loss 20–3 Tony Thompson RTD 8 (12), 3:00 27 Feb 2015 Gloria Sports Arena, Antalya, Turkey For vacant WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title
22 Loss 20–2 Tony Thompson SD 12 22 Mar 2014 Atatürk Spor Salonu, Tekirdağ, Turkey For vacant WBC International heavyweight title
21 Win 20–1 Yakup Saglam TKO 7 (12), 2:30 27 Jul 2013 Kugelbake-Halle, Cuxhaven, Germany Retained IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title
20 Win 19–1 Leif Larsen UD 12 22 Mar 2013 Universal Hall, Berlin, Germany Retained IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title
19 Win 18–1 Konstantin Airich UD 12 19 May 2012 Events Center, Pharr, Texas, U.S. Won IBF Inter-Continental heavyweight title
18 Loss 17–1 Vitali Klitschko KO 1 (12), 2:59 19 Mar 2011 Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany For WBC heavyweight title
17 Win 17–0 Ray Austin DQ 10 (12), 2:59 17 Dec 2010 American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida, U.S. Austin disqualified for punching after the bell
16 Win 16–0 Carl Davis Drumond RTD 3 (10), 3:00 20 Mar 2010 Mallory Square, Key West, Florida, U.S. Retained WBA Fedelatin and WBC International and heavyweight titles
15 Win 15–0 Monte Barrett TKO 2 (10), 1:54 10 Oct 2009 The Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, U.S. Retained WBC International heavyweight title
14 Win 14–0 Dominique Alexander TKO 1 (8), 2:55 12 Jun 2009 Miccosukee Resort & Gaming, Miami, Florida, U.S.
13 Win 13–0 Kevin Burnett TKO 8 (10), 2:00 9 Jan 2009 Star of the Desert Arena, Primm, Nevada, U.S. Retained WBC International heavyweight title;
Won vacant WBA Fedelatin heavyweight title
12 Win 12–0 Chauncy Welliver TKO 9 (12), 1:23 11 Oct 2008 O2 World Arena, Berlin, Germany Won vacant WBC International heavyweight title
11 Win 11–0 Chad Van Sickle TKO 1 (8), 1:32 12 Sep 2008 Kugelbake-Halle, Cuxhaven, Germany
10 Win 10–0 Harry Duiven Jr. UD 8 7 Jun 2008 Karl-Eckel-Weg Halle, Hattersheim am Main, Germany
9 Win 9–0 Mamuka Jikurashvili KO 2 (8), 1:34 26 Apr 2008 Spor Salonu, Trabzon, Turkey
8 Win 8–0 Cisse Salif UD 8 14 Mar 2008 Zenith, Munich, Germany
7 Win 7–0 Adrian Rajkai KO 3 (8) 29 Feb 2008 PalaLido, Milan, Italy
6 Win 6–0 Julius Long UD 8 23 Dec 2007 Maritim Hotel, Halle, Germany Won vacant WBC Latino heavyweight title
5 Win 5–0 Jeremy Bates TKO 2 (8), 0:18 19 Oct 2007 Estrel Hotel, Berlin, Germany
4 Win 4–0 Marcus McGee KO 2 (6), 2:14 21 Sep 2007 Hansehalle, Lübeck, Germany
3 Win 3–0 Aldo Colliander UD 4 6 Jul 2007 Arena Gym, Hamburg, Germany
2 Win 2–0 Oleksiy Mazikin KO 1 (4), 0:43 16 Jun 2007 Atatürk Sport Hall, Ankara, Turkey
1 Win 1–0 Andreas Sidon KO 1 (4), 0:47 27 Apr 2007 Arena Gym, Hamburg, Germany Professional debut
gollark: Yes, and how are you meant to get that?
gollark: ... what happens if someone starts faking those?
gollark: Also, it's *so* weirdly arbitrary.
gollark: You can't fix problems just by banning things related to them, you need to find and solve root causes.
gollark: I don't really like this rule, seems very triangular.

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Don King Announces the WBC Heavyweight Title Elimination bout for December 17th in Miami. Solis vs. Austin". 15rounds.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  3. "Solis edges Austin by disqualification - Boxing - Yahoo! Sports". 24 December 2010. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Fres Oquendo		 WBC Latino heavyweight champion
23 December 2007 – February 2008
Vacated		 Vacant
Title next held by
Gonzalo Basile
Vacant
Title last held by
Juan Carlos Gómez		 WBC International
heavyweight champion
11 October 2008 – December 2010
Vacated		 Vacant
Title next held by
Bermane Stiverne
Vacant
Title last held by
Andrew Golota		 WBA Fedelatin
heavyweight champion
9 January 2009 – December 2010
Vacated
Preceded by
Konstantin Airich		 IBF Inter-Continental
heavyweight champion
19 May 2012 – March 2014
Vacated		 Vacant
Title next held by
Erkan Teper
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