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Odlanier Solís

Personal information
Nickname	La Sombra ("The Shadow")
Born	Odlanier Solís Fonte (1980-04-05)5 April 1980 (age 45) Havana, Cuba
Height	6 ft1+1⁄2 in (187 cm)
Weight	Heavyweight
Boxing career
Reach	79 in (201 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	25
Wins	22
Win by KO	14
Losses	3
Medal record Men'samateur 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 Goodwill Games 1 0 0 Total 7 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 Goodwill Games 2001 Brisbane Heavyweight

Odlanier Solís Fonte (born 5 April 1980) is a Cuban formerprofessional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2019. He challenged once for theWBCheavyweight title in 2011. As anamateur, he won a gold medal at the2004 Olympics;2001,2003, and2005 World Championships;1999, and2003 Pan American; and2001 Goodwill Games.

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

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

In 2005 he switched fromheavyweight tosuper heavyweight and lost in the final toMichel López Núñez. In 2006 he won the title again for a seventh time.

He was part of theCuban team that won the2006 Boxing World Cup.^[1]

His record was 227 victories, 14 losses. He never lost at a major event (world championships, Olympics) and beat fellow CubanFélix 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 thatLászló Papp of Hungary and countrymanTeófilo 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.

Solís became world champion in2001 inBelfast and in 2003 inBangkok at heavyweight (201 lbs/91 kg limit), in2005 inMianyang at super heavyweight.

In 2001 he beat Russian Olympic silver medalist of 2000Sultan Ibragimov in the semifinals on points and in the final BritishDavid 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 archrivalAleksandr Alekseyev who would win the next world championship. Also, Solis defeated Sultan Ibragimov once more (13-7) in four rounds in the XXXIIIChemistry Cup in Halle, Germany, on March 10, 2002.

Solis earned a spot on the Cuban Olympic boxing team for the2004 Summer Olympics inAthens and succeeded the three-time champion Savon as the heavyweight gold medalist.

• 2004 inAthens, Greece (heavyweight)
  • DefeatedAleksandr Alekseyev (Russia) 24–21
  • DefeatedWilmer Vasquez (Venezuela) 24–4
  • DefeatedNaser Al Shami (Syria) RSC–3 (1:29)
  • DefeatedViktar Zuyev (Belarus) 22–13

• 2005 inMoscow, Russia (heavyweight)
  • Defeated Ilgar Mamedov (Azerbaijan) RSC–2
  • Defeated Georgel Gavril (Romania) RSC–3
  • DefeatedMukhtarkhan Dildabekov (Kazakhstan) 27–20
  • Lost toIslam Timurziev (Russia) 26–27

• 1999 inWinnipeg, Canada (heavyweight)
  • Defeated Angus Lewis (Virgin Island) walk-over
  • Defeated Livin Castillo (Ecuador) 14–2
  • DefeatedMarcelino Novaes (Brazil) 13–2
  • DefeatedMark Simmons (Canada) 4–2
• 2003 inWinnipeg, Canada (heavyweight)
  • DefeatedGerardo Bisbal (Puerto Rico) RSCH-2
  • DefeatedJason Douglas (Canada) 16–2
  • DefeatedKertson Manswell (Trinidad & Tobago) 15–3

• 1998 inBuenos Aires, Argentina (heavyweight)
  • DefeatedSteffen Kretschmann (Germany) 8–1
  • Defeated Evgeniy Arkhipov (Russia) 8–2
  • Defeated Sebastian Ceballos (Argentina) 7–5

• 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

• Cubans: Felix Savón (2 wins, 1 loss),Robert Alfonso 3 wins,Michel López Núñez (3 wins, 3 losses),Osmay Acosta (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.

He defected from the national Cuban boxing team in December 2006, during training inVenezuela for the Pan-American Games in Rio de Janeiro. With him, came two fellow amateurs and reigning Olympic champions,Yan Barthelemí Varela andYuriorkis 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.

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2017)

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 veteranAndreas 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 defeatedChauncy Welliver for theWBC international heavyweight title.

Solis fighting out of Miami, Florida, made his third successful defense of the WBC International Heavyweight title with a second round stoppage ofMonte 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.

On 20 March 2010, Solis fought and defeatedCarl Davis Drumond by fourth-round TKO to retain hisWBC International Heavyweight title and to win theWBA 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.

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 fightVitali Klitschko, becoming themandatory challenger.^[2][3] On 11 January, it was official confirmed that the fight between Vitali Klitschko and Solís was going to take place inCologne, 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.

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

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.

• Boxing record for Odlanier Solís fromBoxRec(registration required)
• Amateur record(in Spanish) (archived)
• Odlanier Solis Q&A at BoxingInsider

• 1980 births
• Boxers at the 2003 Pan American Games
• Boxers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Super-heavyweight boxers
• Heavyweight boxers
• Defecting sportspeople from Cuba
• Living people
• Olympic boxers for Cuba
• Olympic gold medalists for Cuba
• Olympic medalists in boxing
• Boxers from Havana
• Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Cuban male boxers
• IBA Men's World Boxing Championships medalists
• Pan American Games gold medalists for Cuba
• Pan American Games gold medalists in boxing
• Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games
• Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games

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