Odlanier Solís

Odlanier Solís
Data
Birth Name	Odlanier Solís Fonte
Fight name	La Sombra
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Cuban
birthday	April 5, 1980
place of birth	Havana
style	Left delivery
size	1.87 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	25th
Victories	22nd
Knockout victories	14th
Defeats	3
Profile in the BoxRec database

Odlanier Solís Fonte (born April 5, 1980 in Havana ) is a Cuban boxer . He became an Olympic heavyweight champion in 2004 and an amateur world champion three times.

Amateur career

Odlanier Solís had a very successful amateur career with a record of 227 wins and only 14 losses. Like his compatriot Félix Savón , he remained undefeated at World Championships and Olympic Games. Solís celebrated his first international successes in 1998 by winning the Pan-American Junior Championship in Toluca and the Junior World Championship in Buenos Aires , where he beat the German representative Steffen Kretschmann , among others . In 1999 he won the Cuban national championship for the first time with a victory over Félix Savón. The title defense succeeded Solís until 2004 five times in a row. In 2000 he was still denied participation in the Olympic Games in Sydney , because Cuba gave the folk hero Félix Savón, who competed in the same weight class, the chance of the third Olympic gold in a row and thus the equalization of the László Papp and Teófilo Stevenson wanted to make records possible.

Solís was world heavyweight champion in 2001 in Belfast and in 2003 in Bangkok and in 2005 in Mianyang in super heavyweight. He was able to beat the Olympic silver medalist of 2000 Sultan Ibragimov on points in the semifinals in 2001 and the British David Haye in the final (but was counted against Haye himself). In 2003 he managed to win a points over Alexander Alexejew in the final . At the 2005 World Cup, he defeated the Russian Roman Romantschuk in the final battle , to whom he was inferior in two previous comparisons.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , Solís was finally able to secure the gold medal in the heavyweight division. On the way to the title he beat u. a. in the semifinals Naser Al Shami , Syria (RSC 3rd), and in the final Wiktar Sujeu , Belarus (22:13). In 2005 he rose from heavyweight (up to 91 kg) to super heavyweight and lost to Michel López in the final of the Cuban championships , but was able to win the championship title again in 2006 and for the seventh time overall.

Tournament successes

• 1998, Toluca: Pan American junior heavyweight champion
• 1998, Buenos Aires: Junior heavyweight champion
• 1999, Mexico City: Central American and Caribbean heavyweight champions
• 1999, Winnipeg: Gold medal in the heavyweight division at the Pan American Games
• 2001, Belfast: Amateur heavyweight champion
• 2001, Brisbane: Gold medal at the Goodwill Games
• 2002, Halle: Gold medal at the Chemistry Cup (final victory over Sultan Ibragimow)
• 2002, Astana: Gold medal at the Boxing World Cup
• 2003, Bangkok: Amateur world heavyweight champion
• 2003, Halle: Gold medal at the Chemistry Cup (final victory over Alexander Powernow )
• 2003, Santo Domingo: Gold medal in the heavyweight division at the Pan American Games
• 2004, Halle: Gold medal at the Chemistry Cup
• 2004, Athens: Olympic heavyweight champion
• 2005, Teresópolis: Gold medal in the super heavyweight division at the Pan American Games
• 2005, Mianyang (China): Amateur world champion in super heavyweight
• 2006, Baku: Gold medal at the Cup of Nations

Professional career

In January 2007 Solís sat together with Yuriolkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemí , both also Olympic champions from 2004, during a training stay in Venezuela in preparation for the 2007 Pan American Games from his teammates. The Hamburg boxing stable Arena Box-Promotion then signed her for three years.

Solís won his professional debut on April 27, 2007 in Hamburg against the already 44-year-old reigning German champion Andreas Sidon , after only 47 seconds, by a technical knockout in the first round. In his second professional fight against the Ukrainian Oleksij Masikin on June 16, 2007 in the Ataturk sports hall in Ankara , he needed only 43 seconds to prematurely defeat the then number 85 in the independent world rankings. In further development battles in 2007 and 2008, he defeated, among others, Aldo Colliander , the Americans Marcus McGee, Jeremy Bates , Julius Long and Cisse Salif from Mali . In April 2008, Solís won against the previously undefeated Georgian Mamuka Dschikuraschwili in the second round after three knockouts.

One point of criticism of the technically talented Solís is that it is relatively heavy for its height. So he got in the fight on October 10, 2009 against the hitherto most famous opponent of his professional career, the American Monte Barrett , with a weight of 123 kg in the ring. Nevertheless, he won the duel against the 38-year-old veteran Barrett sovereign by technical knockout in the second round. He then defeated the Costa Rican Carl Davis Drumond , who gave up the fight after the third round without a chance.

On December 17, 2010 Solís won a World Cup eliminator of the WBC against the American Ray Austin . Austin was disqualified for looking up on lap ten and Solís was declared the winner. Solís thus acquired the right to challenge a world championship fight against WBC world champion Vitali Klitschko .

This world championship fight took place on March 19, 2011 in Cologne. Towards the end of the first round, Solis was hit in the left temple by Klitschko, and on the following step back, his left knee overextended. The resulting weight shift may have overloaded the muscles in the right knee. The injury was also illustrated by an immediate grip on the right thigh. He looked dazed and was unable to rise to fight any further. He was therefore counted by the referee. After the end of the fight, Klitschko insulted Solís as simulators. However, the medical examination showed that Solís tore the anterior cruciate ligament and outer meniscus, as well as cartilage damage in his right knee. According to some reports, Solis had problems in his right knee even before the fight.

In May 2012, after a year on ring break and three knee operations, Solís fought for the vacant IBF Intercontinental title against Konstantin Airich . Solís won this fight over 12 rounds unanimously on points. In March 2013 he also defeated the previously undefeated Norwegian Leif Larsen (17-0) by unanimous decision on points. After the technically limited Larsen asked the former Olympic champion more than expected, critical voices were again loud. After the weak performance against Larsen, the decision was made to sign a physically stronger, but technically equally limited boxer with the German-Turkish Yakup Saglam. Solis won this fight easily in the 7th round by knockout

On March 22, 2014, he boxed against Tony Thompson in Tekirdag, Turkey. After 12 rounds he lost to the American by split point decision (1: 2). He lost the rematch against Thompson on February 27, 2015, heavily overweight after a desolate performance at the beginning of the 9th round by tKO, after he refused to continue the fight.

List of professional boxing matches

25 fights , 22 wins, 13 knockout wins, 3 defeats
year	Day	opponent	place	Result	Type	Round
2007	April 27	Andreas Sidon	Arena Gym, Hamburg	victory	KO	1/4
	June 16	Oleksiy Masikin	Ataturk Sport Salonu, Ankara, Turkey	victory	KO	1/4
	July 6th	Aldo Colliander	Arena Gym, Hamburg	victory	Unanimous decision	4/4
	21st September	Marcus McGee	Hansehalle , Lübeck	victory	KO	2/6
	October 19th	Jeremy Bates	Estrel Convention Center, Berlin	victory	TKO	2/8
	23rd of December	Julius Long	Maritim-Hotel, Halle on the Saale	victory	Unanimous decision	8/8
2008	February 29th	Adrian Rajkai	PalaLido, Milan, Italy	victory	KO	3/8
	the 14th of March	Cisse Salif	Zenith - The Culture Hall , Munich	victory	Unanimous decision	8/8
	26th of April	Mamuka Djikurashvili	Spor Salonu, Trabzon, Turkey	victory	KO	2/8
	June 7th	Harry Duiven junior	Karl Eckel Halle, Hattersheim am Main	victory	Unanimous decision	8/8
	12th September	Chad Van Sickle	Kugelbake hall, Cuxhaven	victory	TKO	1/8
	October 11th	Chauncy Welliver	O₂ World , Berlin	victory	TKO	9/12
2009	January 9th	Kevin Burnett	Buffalo Bill's Star Arena, Primm, Nevada, USA	victory	TKO	8/10
	June 12	Dominique Alexander	Miccosukee Indian Gaming Resort, Miami, Florida, USA	victory	TKO	1/8
	October 10th	Monte Barrett	Madison Square Garden , New York, New York, USA	victory	TKO	2/10
2010	March, 20th	Carl Davis Drumond	Mallory Square, Key West, Florida, USA	victory	TKO (RTD)	3/10
	December 17th	Ray Austin	American Airlines Arena , Miami, Florida, USA	victory	DQ	10/12
2011	19th March	Vitali Klitschko	Lanxess Arena , Cologne	defeat	KO	1/12
2012	May 19th	Konstantin Airich	Convention Center, Pharr, Texas, USA	victory	Unanimous decision	12/12
2013	March 22	Leif Larsen	Universal Hall, Berlin, Germany	victory	Unanimous decision	12/12
	July 27th	Yakup Saglam	Cuxhaven, Germany	victory	TKO	7/12
2014	March 22	Tony Thompson	Ataturk Spor Salonu, Tekirdag, Turkey	defeat	Shared decision	12/12
2015	27th of February	Tony Thompson	Gloria Sports Arena, Gloria Hotels and Resorts, Antalya, Turkey	defeat	TKO	9/12
2016	4th of August	Milos Dovedan	ECB Boxgym, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany	victory	KO	2/6
	July 27th	Aleksandar Todorovic	Goeppingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany	victory	Unanimous decision	8/8

Web links

• Odlanier Solís in the BoxRec database
• Overview of Solís' most important amateur fights ( Memento from December 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
• Odlanier Solís on the "Arena Boxpromotion" website
• Dates ( memento of October 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Odlanier Solís in BoxRec Encyclopaedia
2. ^ Simon Pausch: Hit, fall and rabble . In: Die Welt , March 21, 2011.
3. ↑ Leif Larsen (English WP)