Cuban Heavyweight Odlanier Solis Beats 17-0 Larsen, Future Still Uncertain
By Robert Brizel, Real Combat Media Correspondent
Berlin, Germany (March 23rd, 2013)– On Friday, March 22, 2013, Cuban Heavyweight Odlanier Solis Fonte, ranked ninth in the world on Boxrec, won a 12 round decision over 17-0 Norwegian Leif Larsen to retain his International Boxing Federation Heavyweight title at Universal Hall, Berlin, Germany. Judge’s scorecards were 116-112, 115-114, 117-111 for Solis Fonte, now 19-1, 12 knockouts. Solis Fonte won the vacant IBF Inter-Continental belt in May 2012 with a 12 round decision over Kazakh Konstantin Airch in Texas.
Questions remain about Solis Fonte, however. Airch was subsequently knocked out in the first round by Manuel Charr. Solis Fonte lost in the first round against Dr. Vitali Klitchko in their World Boxing Council World Heavyweight title bout in Cologne, Germany, on March 19, 2011, after rising from a knockdown at 2:59 with cartilage damage in his right knee, as well as tears in his anterior cruciate ligament.
Odlanier Solis Fonte was a member of the Cuban National amateur boxing team who defected with Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelemy in Venezuela in December 2006, escaping to Columbia, and later arriving in Miami, Florida, to begin his promotional career. At the time, all three defecting Cuban boxers signed with the German based Arena Box-Promotion owned by Ahmet Oner.
The answer to the Solis Fonte riddle is simple: after his disastrous performance against Vitali, could or should Solis Fonte be matched up against Vitali again or against his brother Wladimir Klitschko for one of the alphabet heavyweight titles? The answer is: probably not. The Germans would not want to invest in such a matchup again because the odds say it will be a promotional money loser for sure.
The best chance Odlanier Solis Fonte has at this point in his career is to achieve success with a series of wins, and then go after World Boxing Association World Heavyweight regular champion Alexander Povetkin. The winner of that fight would be in good standing for a shot at WBA Super World champion Dr. Wladimir Klitschko. Povetkin, a Russian with a record of 15-0, is 33 years old and has been waiting too long to fight the Klitschko brothers. If Solis Fonte’s loss to Vitali was a fluke, fighting Povetkin would be one way to find out. Povetkin, at 6’2″ 229 pounds, is much more agile than the 6’1 1/2″ 255 pound Solis. Povetkin has four world championship fights with 34 championship rounds experience to Solis Fonte’s one and one. It seems a lot like Floyd Patterson fighting Sonny Liston twice in one rounders. Solis Fonte does not seem to have the stuff to win a world championship.
Solis Fonte could be matched against Bryant Jennings, Deotay Wilder, Vyacheslav Glazkov, Kubrat Pulev, Tomas Adamek, Magomed Abdusalamov and other top fighters of the moment. Both sides would be taking a huge risk in such a matchup, but a legitimate number one or two contender would emerge. Solis Fonte must win a major step up fight against a top rated opponent. If he waits much longer at age 32, he might as well leave his adopted hometown of Miami and go back to Havana.
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