Is Odlanier Solis the Savior of the Heavyweight Division?

With the heavyweight division puttering along at the speed of an ugly, looping Chris Arreola or Nikolay Valuev left hook, fans are always on the lookout for a fighter that could strut into the ring and inject some life into the scene.

It's not that the Klitschko brothers Wladimir and Vitali are bad, they are actually underrated in terms of their talent and accomplishments. It's that the most buzz that either of them has ever generated has been in losing efforts. Vitali finally earned his street cred when he nearly got the best of an ill prepared Lennox Lewis, and Wladimir remains on highlight reels for his knockout losses.

Meanwhile, together they hold three of the four major heavyweight titles, guaranteeing there will never be a major unification in the division since the brothers have vowed to never fight each other. Zzzz.

In 2009 HBO force fed us Arreola, desperately hoping that the lumbering slugger could knock out a Klitschko or two en route to capturing all of our hearts and returning the moneymaker division in boxing back to its prominent positioning. It was a poor choice of backing... frankly the HBO team should be embarrassed for pumping up Arreola as they did, while any casual fan could tell a mile away that he was tailor made to be Klitschko-cannon-fodder.

In 2010 we may just get the chance to see if Cuban defector Odlanier Solis is the man to save the division. Solis is a former Gold medal winner, taking home the prize at the 2004 Athens games. He defected at the end of 2006, along with fellow Cuban boxers Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Bertelemi.

Originally fighting out of Germany and now fighting out of Miami, Solis has compiled a 15-0 record with 11 knockouts. His level of opposition hasn't been great, with the biggest names on his resume to this point being Monte Barrett and Cisse Salif, however with his amateur pedigree he certainly has the tools to make a serious impact on the division.

Solis is currently rated at number 7 in the WBC heavyweight rankings, inching closer to a potential showdown with Vitali, the WBC heavyweight champion. Considering that two of the six fighters ahead of him have already been beaten by Klitschko, two are terrible retreads and one is much more eager for a title shot at Wladimir, Solis's name could be called at some point soon.

Unlike some of the hopefuls in the division, such as Eddie Chambers and David Haye, Solis is built like a true super heavyweight, which lends more credence to his chances to climb either of the twin Mount Klitschko peaks.

Chambers with his boxing and Haye with his speed and power both have legitimate chances to beat one of the brothers. But both have major question marks, Chambers weighs in at about 205 lbs when he's in shape and Haye is a fighter with a chinny past that has moved up from cruiserweight.

So will it be Odlanier Solis that gets his shot and takes down a Klitschko? If you're putting your money down on anybody, put it down on Solis. That's right American boxing fans... in your desperation to oust the Klitschko brothers and end the European stranglehold on the division you now find yourself rooting for a Cuban Olympic champion. I don't remember that from any Rocky movies.