Ripped for being "scared" by winner and WBC champ Carl Froch in October, super middleweight Andre Dirrell will try to rebound from his first loss on March 27 when he meets undefeated Arthur Abraham.
Dirrell takes a record of 18-1 with 13 knockouts into his clash with Abraham (31-0, 25 KOs), who will be after his ninth knockout in his past 10 fights and his third straight stoppage victory when he visits Dirrell's home state of Detroit for their Showtime-televised, Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic group stage No. 2 bout at Joe Louis Arena.
As an amateur, Cuban-born, Odlanier Solis (pictured above left, with Carl Davis Drummond) defeated future heavyweight world champions, Sultan Ibragimov, and, David Haye, respectively, of Russia, and, England.
The talented fighter went on to earn an Olympic gold medal in the 2004 Olympics for Cuba, ending his amateur career with an outstanding record of 347-12.
Three years ago, Solis successfully defected from Cuba to America with the help of his present manager,Tony Gonzalez, along with another Cuban-born gold medalist, Yuriorkis Gamboa (17-0, 15 KOs), who is now a 28-year-old WBA featherweight (126 pounds) champion promoted by Top Rank CEO, Bob Arum.
Although he is not yet a world champion, Solis wants to be, very badly.
"I believe that ever since I turned professional, my goal has always been the same, and I've felt that I've always been ready to challenge for the most prized crown in this industry, which is the heavyweight crown," said the 29-year-old, Solis, during a recent conference call interview with reporters.
"I've been ready since then, I'm ready now, and I'll always be ready," said Solis, who is living in Miami. "Once given that opportunity, I'll take full advantage of it and make the best of it."
On Saturday, at Mallory Square in Key West, Fla., as part of the Top Rank-promoted, Top Rank Live series that was televised on Fox, Solis took yet another huge step toward making his title hopes a reality -- this in the Southern-most portion of Florida that is just 90 miles from Solis' native Cuba.
Solis scored what was considered a third-round knockout over Costa Rica's 35-year-old Carl Davis Drummond (26-3, 20 KOs), earning his 12th knockout, and his sixth consecutive stoppage to improve to 16-0.
Drummond essentially quit on his stool between the third and fourth round, this, after being in trouble near the end of the third as Solis, who controlled the fight throughout, hammered the taller Drummond with one blow after another.
Wladimir Klitschko last tasted defeat in April of 2004 when he was knocked out in the fifth-round by American Lamon Brewster of Los Angeles.
Since then the 6-foot-6, 244-pound Ukrainian-born heavyweight has racked up some impeccable statistics.
On Saturday with five seconds left in the bout, the Kiev native scored his 12th straight victory, his ninth knockout during that time, and his fourth consecutive stoppage with a 12th-round left hook that permanently floored previously, once-beaten, Philadelphia challenger, "Fast" Eddie Chambers in front of a screaming, sold out crowd of about 51,000 at Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
In vanquishing Chambers, the 33-year-old Klitschko (54-3) scored the 48th knockout of his career, defending for the eighth time the IBF crown that he won from American Chris Byrd in April of 2006 and for the fourth time, the WBO belt that he earned from Sultan Ibragimov in February of 2008.
"Chambers is an extraordinary boxer. He is very, very quick and preemptive. But in the last rounds, I gave everything, and I am very happy about the result," Klitschko told FanHouse in an e-mail from team spokesman Klaus-Peter Dittrich Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf.
"To me Chambers gave up mentally after round six," said Klitschko, who likely won every round. "It is hard to hit somebody who is very passive and tries not to be knocked out."
Ukrainian-born, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko, of Kiev, earned his12th straight victory, his ninth knockout during that time, and his fourth consecutive stoppage with a 12th-round, left hook that permanently floored previously, once-beaten, Philadelphia challenger, "Fast" Eddie Chambers before a capacity crowd of more than 50,000 on Saturday at Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Before the end, at 2:55 of the final round, the 33-year-old, 6-foot-6 Klitschko (54-3, 48 knockouts) had fought tall and was pretty much untouchable on the way to winning virtually every round.
Klitschko never was in danger of suffering his first loss since April of 2004, when he was knocked out in the fifth-round by Lamon Brewster.
Nicknamed "Steelhammer," Klitschko was coming off of June's ninth-round knockout win over previously unbeaten, 31-year-old southpaw, Ruslan Chagaev (25-1-1, 17 KOs), of Hamburg, Germany.
Klitschko weighed 244 pounds for Saturday night's clash with the 6-foot-1, 27-year-old Chambers (35-2, 18 KOs), and used his weight advantage of 35 pounds -- Chambers weighed in a 209 -- as well as his advantage of five inches.
For Chambers, a five-bout winning streak ended that included two knockouts. His last previous loss was on January 2008 to 6-foot-2, 30-year-old Russian Alexander Povetkin (18-0, 13 KOs), in Berlin, Germany.
Ukrainian-born, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion, Wladimir Klitschko (pictured above), of Kiev, will be after his 12th straight victory, his ninth knockout during that time, and his fourth consecutive stoppage win as he takes on once-beaten, Philadelphia challenger, "Fast" Eddie Chambers on Saturday night at Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
The nearly 6-foot-7, 33-year-old Klitschko (53-3, 47 knockouts) has not lost since April of 2004, when he was knocked out in the fifth-round by Lamon Brewster.
Nicknamed "Steelhammer," Klitschko weiged nearly 241 pounds for June's ninth-round knockout win over previously unbeaten, 31-year-old southpaw, Ruslan Chagaev (25-1-1, 17 KOs), of Hamburg, Germany.
But Klitschko tipped the scales at 244 pounds for Saturday night's clash with the 6-foot-1, 27-year-old Chambers (35-1, 18 KOs), meaning he has a weight advantage of 35 pounds and a height advantage of nearly six inches over his rival.
"After nine months off, I am eager to get back in the ring. I am very excited to fight in another soccer stadium, because this one will hold more than 50,000 people. So the atmosphere in the stadium will be fantastic," said Klitschko, who avenged the loss to Brewster with a July, 2007, sixth-round knockout.
"I am 33 years old and at the top of my athletic ability," said Klitschko, whose winning streak includes a December, 2008 seventh-round stoppage of former world champion, Hasim Rahman. "I have never been so strong, fast, and experienced."
Wladimir Klitschko
