Originally Arena Box-Promotion had planned to present heavyweight sensation Odlanier Solis in the USA on May 17th, 2008 but the Cuban Olympic gold medallist was denied a visa. Now Arena's attorneys have tried again to get "La Sombra" into the US but the Consulate in Berlin denied the application again. Apparently the US authorities presume the three-time world amateur champion could stay in Miami like his fellow defectors Yan Barthelemy and Yuriorkis Gamboa did. Actually Solis is currently planning to buy a house in Cologne, Germany to settle down there. "Obviously the US authorities don’t want to have a future world champion in their country right now," said Arena CEO Ahmet Öner. "Anyways I am sure that I'll be able to present Solis sooner or later. For now the Turkish fans are lucky as we will hold the fight with Botha in Istanbul as originally planned and I am sure that it will be a great show."

Solis-Botha will take place as co-main event for the European heavyweight championship between Sinan Samil Sam and Matt Skelton scheduled for July 4th 2008 at Bagcilar Olympic Sport Complex in Istanbul/Turkey. As a warm-up for Istanbul, Solis will be back in action this Saturday in Hattersheim (close to Frankfurt) against 20-year-old Harry Duiven Jr. (12-2-1, 10 KOs).