Joey Reynolds, Pete Wood & Cast at WOR.AM 2/26/2008
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Reprinted from original article in Boxing News Magazine
SOLIS AND CLOUD VICTORS IN MIAMI
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Joey Reynolds, Pete Wood & Cast at WOR.AM 2/26/2008
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Reprinted from original article in Boxing News Magazine SOLIS AND CLOUD VICTORS IN MIAMI
Miami,
Fl
December
17,
2010
- Ron
Ross
Odlanier
Solis’
performance
against
Cleveland’s
Ray
Austin
in a Don
King
Promotion
at the
American
Airlines
Arena in
Miami,
Florida
will
probably
not sent
icy
fingers
of fear
running
up and
down the
spine of
Vitaly
Klitschko.
On the
contrary,
if he
were
found
licking
his
chops in
anticipation
of a
proposed
showdown
with the
undefeated
Cuban
heavyweight
(17-0,
13
stoppages)
he
couldn’t
be
faulted.
In a
scheduled
12 round
WBC
Heavyweight
Final
Elimination
Bout,
which
means
that
maybe
the
winner
will
fight
Vitaly
Klitschko
for the
title,
Solis
plodded,
glowered
and
grimaced
but was
not very
effective
in
landing
punches.
Oh, yes,
when he
did they
were
attention-getters.
It was a
Solis
house.
They
cheered
when he
lunged,
they
roared
at any
punch he
threw as
long as
it came
within a
foot of
its
intended
target.
But this
was not
the
well-synchronized,
deadly
puncher
of past
performances,
both
here and
in Cuba.
Whether
it was
conditioning,
a
question
of
styles
or just
an
off-night
is open
to
conjecture
but
Odlanier
“La
Sombra”
Solis
has seen
better
nights.
It took
a
bizarre
ending –
a
mixture
of his
explosive
power
finally
connecting
and
igniting
and an
act of
self-destruction
on the
part of
his
opponent.
Ray “The
Rainman”
Austin,
239 ¾,
28(18),
4-4, is
a
cutie-pie
– which
does not
mean
that he
is
adorable
– that
is
strictly
in the
eyes of
the
beholder
- he is
a bit of
a slick
article
between
the
ropes.
He knows
how to
use the
ring,
and when
necessary,
to stay
out of
harm’s
way.
Against
Solis it
was
necessary.
With the
pitter-patter
of great
big feet
running
a steady
retreat
throughout
the
contest
and
employing
a
flicking
left jab
like a
feather-duster
that you
would
feel
safe
using
with
your
best
china,
confident
there
would
absolutely
be no
breakage,
he
carried
the
fight
into the
10th
round
actually
leading
on two
cards.
From the
opening
bell it
was the
stalker
against
the
stalkee,
where it
seemed
only a
matter
of time
that
Solis
would
wade
through
that
flea-flicker
left and
create
fistic
mayhem,
but he
just
wasn’t
working
on all
cylinders.
Not
until
the
fifth
round
when he
came
barreling
out with
a
two-fisted
barrage
and a
ramrod-straight
left
floored
Austin.
When he
pulled
himself
off the
canvas,
Solis
tried
desperately
to end
the
fight
with a
sustained
two-fisted
attack
for the
rest of
the
round
but
Austin
weathered
the
storm.
Back to
the
chase.
Again,
from the
sixth
round
on, it
was the
pitty-pat
powerless
lefts of
the
retreating
Austin
landing
in great
harmless
numbers
against
Solis’
occasional
crunching
left
hook to
the body
followed
by an
overhand
right.
Those
occasionally
landing
blows by
Solis
coupled
with
Austin’s
continuous
flight
obviously
took its
toll
though
and
Solis
knew it.
He came
roaring
out at
the bell
for the
tenth
round
banging
away
with
both
hands.
This was
an
attack
that
Austin
was
unable
to
elude.
Referee
Tommy
Kimmons
penalized
him a
point
for
holding
as
nearly
out on
his
feet, he
tried
whatever
he could
to stay
alive.
Sensing
the
kill,
Solis
was all
over
him,
continuing
the
relentless
two-fisted
barrage.
In
desperation,
Austin
draped
himself
over
Solis,
shoving
him onto
the
ropes
where
they
hung
perilously
like two
beached
whales
as hands
from the
commission
table at
the ring
apron
were
raised
trying
to keep
them
from
falling
from the
ring.
Somehow
Kimmons
managed
to pry
them
apart
and as
he did,
Austin,
in a
final
act of
self-destruction
whacked
Solis in
the back
of the
head
with the
best
punch he
threw
all
night
and was
disqualified
on the
spot at
2:59 of
the 10th
round.
Solis
must
remember
one
thing
before
climbing
into the
ring
against
Klitschko.
He won
this
fight on
a
stoppage
with his
opponent
throwing
the last
punch.
In the
future,
he wants
to be
the guy
throwing
the
punch
that
ends the
fight.
In
the
co-feature
12-rounder
for the
IBF
Light
Heavyweight
Championship,
undefeated
titleholder
Tavoris
“Thunder”
Cloud,
Tallahassee,
FL, 175,
22(18)-0,
overwhelmed
Colombian
Fulgencio
Zuniga,
174,
24(21)-5-1,
outpunching
him in
volume
and
power.
To his
credit,
Zuniga
showed
the
heart of
a lion
as he
never
stopped
trying
but was
simply
unable
to match
Cloud’s
firepower.
He
started
most of
the
rounds
by
bringing
the
fight to
Cloud,
but his
punches
didn’t
seem to
hurt the
champion.
Cloud
would
then
retaliate
with a
barrage
of
powerful
punches
that
often
rocked
and
staggered
the
challenger.
Enroute
to the
one-sided
win,
Cloud,
who
received
a cut
above
his left
eye
early in
the
fight,
floored
Zuniga
twice.
In the
fifth
round a
solid
right
high on
the head
floored
him and
in the
final
round he
dropped
him with
a left
hook
followed
by a
right to
the jaw.
The
official
scorecards
of
117-108,
118-108,
115-109
all for
Cloud,
told the
story.
After
two
years
away
from the
ring,
Ricardo
Mayorga,
Managua,
Nicaragua,
162 ½,
29(23)-8-1,didn’t
seem to
skip a
beat in
his
return
to
action
against
Chicago’s
Michael
Walker,
160
½,19(12)-6-2.
Adhering
closely
to the
rules,
the
Florida
State
Boxing
Commission
did not
permit
Mayorga
to bring
any
sticks
or
stones
into the
ring but
they
could
not stop
him from
calling
names,
taunting
and
making
faces at
his
opponent.
It may
be true
that
names
will
never
harm
you, but
when you
add some
solid
clusters
of
punching
along
with the
names –
yeah,
they
hurt.
Mayorga
mixed up
the
taunting
and
mugging
with
enough
banging
away to
the
body,
then the
head to
take a
commanding
lead. In
the
ninth
round
after a
two
point
deduction
by
Referee
Tommy
Kimmons
for
punching
Walker
while he
was on
the
canvas,
Mayorga,
who
doesn’t
let such
things
faze
him,
nailed
Walker
coming
in with
a wicked
right
uppercut,
dropping
him.
When
Walker
arose,
Mayorga
was all
over
him,
blasting
his
helpless
opponent
with a
flurry
of
unanswered
blows,
stopping
him at
1:09 of
the
ninth
round.
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