Julian Solis

Julian Solis (born January 7, 1957) is a former boxer from Puerto Rico. He was born in the San Juan area of Rio Piedras, but, because of the closeness of his birthplace to Caguas, he often trained at the Bairoa Gym in Caguas. His training base, however, was Caimito Gym. He is the only world champion in a family that produced two other world caliber boxers: brother Enrique lost for the world Featherweight title to Eusebio Pedroza by decision in 15 rounds, and brother Rafael lost to Hector Camacho in 1983 by a knockout in five rounds, for the world's Jr. Lightweight title.

Solis began his professional boxing career in 1975, beating Ray Negron by decision in four on November 11. He won his first five fights in Puerto Rico, and then had his first international fight, when he beat Juan Gomez in St. Maarten, by a knockout in round two, on December of 1975.

On February 12 of 1978, he met fringe contender Nivio Nolasco and beat him by decision in ten, and then, he travelled to the Dominican Republic, where he outpointed Leopoldo Frias on March 15, also in ten rounds. With a record of 12-0 and 5 knockouts, he returned to the Dominican Republic, where he challenged Julio Soto Solano on October 16 for the Latin American Bantamweight title. He won the regional belt by outpointing Solano over 12 rounds.

In 1979, he won four fights, including one over Julio C. Saba knocked out in eight rounds in Buenos Aires.

Solis continued his world traveller ways in 1980: He retained the Latin American title with a 12th round knockout of future world title challenger Edgar Roman in Venezuela, and won another fight, this one in South Africa, before challenging the WBA world bantamweight champion Jorge Lujan at Miami on August 29. He became world Bantamweight champion by defeating Lujan by decision in 15. For his first defense, he returned to Miami, but he lost the crown, and his undefeated record, to Jeff Chandler on November 14, by a knockout in 14 rounds.

After beginning 1981 with one win, he and Chandler met again, on July 25th at Atlantic City, New Jersey. This time, Chandler took only half the time he had the first time to beat Solis, knocking the Puerto Rican former world champion in seven rounds. His next fight, with Kiko Bejines, who would later die in a boxing related accident, in Los Angeles, also resulted in a seven round knockout defeat.

In 1982, Solis went back to the winning road, winning two fights in San Juan and one in Chile. By 1983, Solis was a popular performer on the channel seven televised Saturday night fights, often held in small Puerto Rican cities. He won four fights in Puerto Rico that year, and drew in Panama with the world's number one ranked Jr. Featherweight of the time, Bernardo Checa. In 1984, he won three fights, including a ten round decision over future world champion Kenny Mitchell as part of the Azumah Nelson-Wilfredo Gomez world Featherweight championship bout's undercard on December 8 in San Juan.

In 1985, he only had one fight, decisioning David Campo.

He began 1986 by losing to Mike Ayala by decision in ten on March 2 in San Antonio. Solis and his handlers felt he had been robbed of a victory by the judges in this fight, feeling that Solis had done enough to win it on points. They filed a complain with the Texas state athletic commission, and had the Texan boxing officials review a tape of the fight. However, it was to no avail, as the fight's result was not over-turned.

Solis fought on from this point until 1992, but he only won 6 of his last 15 bouts before retiring. True to his world travelling style, only 2 of those final 15 bouts were in Puerto Rico, and he visited Italy, South Korea, South Africa once again, and various American states for his last 15 fights, in addition to another fight in Miami. Among the boxers he faced during the last part of his career were future world Bantamweight champion Mauricio Stecca, former world Bantamweight champion Calvin Grove, Seoung-Hoon Lee and Pedro Decima.

Solis retired with a record of 41 wins, 13 losses and 1 draw, with 22 knockouts. He remains active as a public figure in Puerto Rico, participating in charity exhibitions here and there.

External link

Solis record from boxrec.com (http://boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=003743)