Dan's Weekly Boxer Rankings and Blog

I mean don’t get me wrong- I like Tony Thompson, and he’s clearly got plenty of power.  But Solis allowed him to just casually maul him without any worry or care in the world.  For a guy of Solis’s immense talent, this was an absolutely embarrassing performance.  And don’t just take my word for it.  The Cuban showed more fire in a post-fight confrontation with his own chief second (who was understandably furious at Solis’s effort and helped Thompson celebrate after the bout) than he ever did against Tony the Tiger.  According to Boxingscene.com, Solis’s trainer- who was not in his corner due to schedule conflicts- said that Solis only spent 18 days total in serious training for the fight, despite the fact that it was originally signed in mid-September and was postponed 3 times.  Ahmet Oner, Solis’s promoter, was as candid as I’ve ever heard any promoter be about his fighter’s shortcomings.  He essentially said that while he’s still obligated to promote Solis, he’s now going to treat him as a journeyman and try and feed him to any prospect willing to pay for a name on his record.  This was one of the most embarrassing performances I’ve ever witnessed, all things considered.

In other action lower down the ranks, two borderline top-50 prospects in Arnold Gjergjaj and Zoltan Csala hooked up in an 8-rounder in Basel, Switzerland.  The official tallies were 79-72 (x2) and 78-74, all for Gjergjaj.  I’ve only been able to find a two-minute highlight film and a cellphone video of round one online.  Based on that, I’d say I’m just slightly suspicious that Csala may have done better than that, although I’m far from being able to say that Gjergjaj didn’t deserve to win legitimately.  The suspicion comes from the fact that the Swiss crowd was losing their minds every time a Gjergjaj right hand hit Csala’s gloves, and consistent crowd overreaction like that can sometimes influence judges.  But more importantly, the highlight film showed what appeared to be a light but legit knockdown by Csala ruled a slip by ref Beat Hausamann, which obviously would mean he at least likely did better than the 79-72 cards.  In any case, I can’t remotely argue with the overall result on the little footage I have, so it is what it is.  

In non-televised action from Phoenix, undefeated prospect Charles Martin knocked out Brazilian journeyman Raphael Zumbano in the 10th and final round, making it two knockout losses for Zumbano in the first two months of the year.

Gjergjaj has started to build a resume, but is still working his way into the mid-30s for my money, while Martin still hasn’t beaten anybody in the top 50.