Boxing Betting / Ralph Ellis / 16 March 2011 /

Weight will be the determining factor should Odlanier Solis stand a chance against Vitali Klitschko - so let's hope Solis has kept off the doughnuts!

It's hardly news if David Haye is having a pop at one of the Klitschko brothers. Britain's WBA heavyweight champion has been trash talking the two Ukrainians for the last couple of years in his efforts to goad them into putting their titles on the line.

So when I read this morning that he had been suggesting Odlanier Solis might be able to cause an upset on Saturday night by beating Vitali Klitschko, it was pretty easy to dismiss it all as a bit more Haye hype. Getting ready for his own, long awaited date with Wladimir that's finally being planned for the end of June, he was hardly likely to be saying nice things about either of the brothers now.

Yet buried in the pages of the Liverpool Echo is a quiet little hint that Haye might just be offering more than empty rhetoric. David Price, quietly making his way through the ranks since turning pro after winning bronze at the Beijing Olympics, has been out to spar with Solis. And he says the Cuban is in outstanding shape ready for the fight.

"I think he may surprise a few people," says Price. "He seems to have prepared well in a very professional camp and he looks in good shape."

Betfair's market has Vitali at [1.16] to win Saturday's fight in Cologne, and [1.8] to do it inside the distance. But that assumes Solis will turn up in the sort of blubbery state in which he fought Ray Austin - or more accurately lumbered around the ring with Austin until the American got disqualified for hitting after the bell. There was talk before that contest about how well Solis, who has always had a problem with his weight, had been working - but come the crunch it was proved to be more wishful thinking than inside information.

This time you hope that Price is being a bit more honest about what he's seen - and that a boxer who is developing his career as part of the Hayemaker stable might have given away some secrets to his boss. Maybe there's another clue as Haye says: "It depends on which Solis turns up. At 260 pounds he won't beat Vitali, but at 225 pounds he can". At the very least it makes it worth checking the weigh-in before betting on the fight.

Haye himself is jetting out to Miami today to start training for his own big date against Wladimir, and could be decent value for that one at [2.5]. I certainly think it's worth backing him at that price now because a bit of enthusiasm for the British boxer could well bring the odds down before fight night to give an opportunity to turn the market green and sit back to enjoy the battle however it turns out.

Five things you might not know about Odlanier Solis...
1. Born in April 1980 in Havana, Cuba, he was a standout amateur and aged 18 he won both the Pan American Juniors Championship and the Juniors World Championship.
2. Cuban Heavyweight champion for five years from 1999, he beat Felix Savon in the trials for the 2000 Olympic team, but the association still sent the older Savon to Sydney instead. Savon won his third consecutive gold
3. He did win gold at Athens in 2004, and two years later defected from Cuba to go to Miami for the chance to turn professional, having won 227 of 241 amateur fights
4. He was reunited there with his former amateur coach Pedro Diaz, who had himself defected a few years earlier and been working with Jean Pascal and David Lemieux.
5. Away from the ring he lists his pleasures as fishing, and chocolate ice cream!

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