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Odlanier Solís Fonte (born 5 April 1980) is a Cuban professional boxer. He has challenged once for the
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heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
title in 2011, and is a former top-rated contender in that division. As an
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
heavyweight, Solis was one of the most celebrated and decorated
amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...
stars of the 2000s, winning a gold medal at the
2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
, and three consecutive golds at the World Championships in
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
,
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, and
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. Odlanier Solís beat Luis Ortiz (Cuban boxer) multiple times in the amateurs, never losing to him.


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 Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
to
super heavyweight Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and competitive bodybuilding. Boxing In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Introduced for th ...
and lost in the finale to
Michel López Núñez Michel López Núñez (born November 5, 1976 in Pinar del Río) is a Cuban former amateur boxer, who won the Super Heavyweight bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the older brother of Mijaín López Núñez, a Cuban Greco-Roman wr ...
. 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 The 2006 Boxing World Cup was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from October 15 to October 22. Preliminaries Pool A * * * * Preliminary round standings Pool B * * * * Preliminary round standings Final * Ukraine and Azerbaijan shared the ...
. 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 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
in Belfast and in 2003 in Bangkok at heavyweight (201 lbs/91 kg limit), in
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
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 The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
in Athens and succeeded the three-time champion Savon as the heavyweight gold medalist.


Amateur highlights


Olympic Games

*
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
in
Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
(heavyweight) ** Defeated Aleksandr Alekseyev (Russia) 24–21 ** Defeated
Wilmer Vasquez Wilmer or Wilmers may refer to: Places * Wilmer, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community * Wilmer, Louisiana, United States, an unincorporated hamlet *Wilmer, Texas, United States, a city *Wilmer, British Columbia, Canada, a settleme ...
(Venezuela) 24–4 ** Defeated
Naser Al Shami Nasser Al Shami ( ar, ناصر الشامي; born June 27, 1982) is a Syrian boxer, who competed in the heavyweight division (– 91 kg) at the 2004 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal. Nasser Al-Shami was allegedly injured on 4 July 20 ...
(Syria) RSC–3 (1:29) ** Defeated
Viktar Zuyev Viktor Valeryevich Zuyev, also spelled sometimes as Viktar Valeryevich Zuyeu ( be, Ві́ктар Вале́р'евіч Зу́еў, Viktar Valeryevich Zuyew, Łacinka: ''Viktar Valierjevič Zujeŭ''; russian: Ви́ктор Вале́рьеви� ...
(Belarus) 22–13


World Cup

*
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in
Moscow, Russia Moscow ( , American English, US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia. The city stands on t ...
(heavyweight) **Defeated Ilgar Mamedov (Azerbaijan) RSC–2 **Defeated Georgel Gavril (Romania) RSC–3 **Defeated Mukhtarkhan Dildabekov (Kazakhstan) 27–20 **Lost to Islam Timurziev (Russia) 26–27


Pan American Games

*
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
in Winnipeg, Canada (heavyweight) **Defeated Angus Lewis (Virgin Island) walk-over **Defeated Livin Castillo (Ecuador) 14–2 **Defeated
Marcelino Novaes Marcelino Novaes Rodrigues Fil (born July 9, 1967 in São Paulo) is a retired boxer from Brazil, who won the bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 1999 Pan American Games, together with Jamaica's Kerron Speid. Nicknamed, ''Robo ...
(Brazil) 13–2 **Defeated Mark Simmons (Canada) 4–2 *
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
in Winnipeg, Canada (heavyweight) **Defeated
Gerardo Bisbal Gerardo Miguel Bisbal Melero (born 11 September 1984 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a heavyweight boxer from Puerto Rico. He is best known for having been the first Puerto Rican boxer to win medals in three Central American and Caribb ...
(Puerto Rico) RSCH-2 **Defeated Jason Douglas (Canada) 16–2 **Defeated
Kertson Manswell Kertson Manswell (born October 28, 1976) also known as The Pride of Tobago, is a heavyweight former professional boxer from Trinidad and Tobago. Amateur career At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Manswell won the silver medal, losing the gold to Can ...
(Trinidad & Tobago) 15–3


World Junior Championships

* 1998 in
Buenos Aires, Argentina Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
(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

*Cubans: Felix Savón (2 wins, 1 loss), Robert Alfonso 3 wins,
Michel López Núñez Michel López Núñez (born November 5, 1976 in Pinar del Río) is a Cuban former amateur boxer, who won the Super Heavyweight bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He is the older brother of Mijaín López Núñez, a Cuban Greco-Roman wr ...
(3 wins, 3 losses),
Osmay Acosta Osmay Acosta Méndez Duarte (born April 3, 1985) is a Cuban former amateur boxer, who competed between 2001 and 2010, best known to win the 2007 PanAm Games at Heavyweight with 201 lbs (91 kg) limit. Career Acosta is a 1,85 m tall f ...
(RSC), Yoan Pablo Hernández (2 wins) TKO & 10-1. *Non-Cubans: Islam Timurziev (1 win, 1 loss), Roman Romanchuk (1 win, 2 losses), Vyacheslav Glazkov (1 win), Kubrat Pulev (2 wins, 1 loss), Sultan Ibragimov (2 wins), David Haye (1 win). 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 Yuriorkis Gamboa Toledano (born 23 December 1981) is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former unified featherweight world champion, having held the WBA and IBF titles between 2009 and 2011, as well as the WBA interim championship in both th ...
. 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 WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...
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 Monte Barrett (born May 26, 1971) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He challenged once for the WBA heavyweight title in 2006, and fought many top heavyweight champions and contenders during his career. Am ...
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 WBC may stand for: Business *Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, a former large India broadcaster now folded into CBS *Westpac (New Delhi Exchange code: WBC), a multinational Financial services company *Wholesale Broadband Connect, BT Wholesale's ...
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

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 In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...
. 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


References


External links

*
Amateur record
(archived)
Odlanier Solis Q&A
at BoxingInsider {{DEFAULTSORT:Solis, Odlanier 1980 births Boxers at the 2003 Pan American Games Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Super-heavyweight boxers Heavyweight boxers Defecting sportspeople of Cuba Living people Olympic boxers of Cuba Olympic gold medalists for Cuba Olympic medalists in boxing Boxers from Havana Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cuban male boxers AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba Pan American Games medalists in boxing Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games