Arena Boxing: Oner, Solis Rubbish Latest Klitschko Performance

The WBC heavyweight championship between Vitali Klitschko and Albert Sosnowski turned out exactly as all experts and fans had expected. The challenger from Poland didn’t stand a chance against the more powerful half of the dominating force in the heavyweight division.

The older Klitschko brother once more wore down a helpless opponent with his unorthodox style and his powerful left hand using the right only to finish off his opponent in the tenth round.

Most of the 40,000 fans in the not sold-out football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, were not amused with Vitali’s slow and boring performance against another challenger who wasn’t worth his money.

And even Klitschko’s strong German TV partner RTL cannot be happy with “only” 7 Mio. viewers and the lowest rating since RTL teamed up with the Klitschko Management Group four years ago to exclusively present the fights of both Vitali and Wladimir.

“With fights like this the Klitschkos risk their legacy”, says ARENA-CEO Ahmet Öner about the one-sided bout. “Even worse: They emphasize the weakness of the heavyweight division at the moment. Vitali shouldn’t have chosen a guy like Sosnowski in the first place.

“Of course, he was European champion but he had beaten nobody of notice to win that title. He has no amateur merits and in 2008 he had lost to a journeyman. This is not the kind of opposition we can expect for somebody like Vitali. He should finally take on the only man who has a chance of beating him: Odlanier Solis.”

Solis, 2004 Olympic gold medallist and multiple world amateur champion, is already the no. 1 contender in the WBC ratings. Negotiations regarding a final elimination bout against Russian Giant Nikolai Valuev are stuck at the moment due to Valuev’s exorbitant purse demands. For the same reason a fight between Vitali and Valuev had fallen through causing the Ukrainian champion to accept Sosnowski as challenger instead.

“I’m ready to go”, states Solis who lives and trains in Miami, Florida. “As most people in the USA I don’t follow Vitali’s fights but I heard that his performance this Saturday was a disgrace again. I don’t understand why somebody who claims to be the best boxer in the world picks lousy opposition like this Polish guy I have never heard of. This bullshit has to stop. Vitali, stop clowning around and fight me instead of those bums you’ve been in the ring with recently!”

“La Sombra” had been one of the candidates to challenge Vitali before the Klitschko management signed the deal with Sosnowski.

“They most probably chose Sosnowski because he was the safer option,” say Öner. “I bet he was cheaper as well but we surely weren’t asking for a lot of money. We believe that Solis will beat Vitali so he won’t go into a fight just for a decent pay-day.

“He wants to become the first ever Cuban heavyweight champion of the world. Vitali looked old and slow against Sosnowski. His team keeps on saying that he is only getting better and stronger but that’s hard to tell when he’s fighting tomato cans. Solis is definitely faster, stronger and technically better than Vitali. But Vitali is smart. He knows all that and therefore avoids fighting Solis.”

Experts critisize that Solis’ perfect record of 16 wins in 16 fights is lacking big names to qualify him for a title shot. “But that’s no tour fault”, is Öner’s response. “We had already signed a deal with Kevin Johnson when Vitali chose him for a voluntary defense. We also wanted to fight Arreola but HBO asked us not to because they wanted to protect their fighter.

“Now we would love to get our hands on Valuev but he seems to be ducking the fight as well. All elite fighters know that they would lose to Solis. That’s why everybody’s avoiding him – including the Klitschko bros.”

Solis is directly calling out the WBC champion: “Vitali, stop thinking about Valuev or Haye. Valuev has lost to Haye and Chagaev and should have lost to Holyfield as well. He is not in your league. In addition to that he stands behind me in the ratings and doesn’t want to fight me. There’s no point in you fighting him.

“Regarding Haye, he had his chance to get his hands on you and your brothers and he pulled out. Also I already knocked him out as an amateur. I am the only opponent left. And I promise you that after our fight you can concentrate on your career in politics. I will take your belt and retire you, my friend. If you don’t believe me – come and prove me wrong!”