Cosmetically, Jorge “Coloradito” Solis looks good. He is a Mexican national featherweight champion, he is undefeated at 32-0-2 with 23 KOs and his younger brother, Ulises “Archie” Solis, is the IBF light flyweight champion. At 126 pounds, he is ranked #2 by the WBC, #4 WBO, #12 WBA and #13 IBF
But make no mistake.
When Top Rank bossman Bob Arum gave specific orders to his veteran matchmaker Bruce “Southland” Trampler to locate and lock in a tough but not too threatening
April 21 San Antonio opponent for Filipino ring idol and WBC International junior lightweight king Manny Pacquiao, Trampler followed those orders.
“Manny is Bob’s big account, his special fighter and care is being taken so that Manny shines brightly in Texas,” a source familiar with Top Rank’s game plan told me last night. “Arum has been vociferous that Pacman not only has to win but also has to look great in this PPV event. Without HBO or Showtime being involved, it’s Arum’s own coin he is putting on the line for this event. The cable networks won’t get involved because of the legal wrangle Top Rank has with Golden Boy.”
In other words, “Coloradito” is not the kind of danger man to Pacman that the veteran contender Humberto Soto would be. But there is a Solis-Soto connection.
Solis, who lives in Guadalajara and is managed by Jesus Rivero Gamboa and trained by Jose Reynoso, faced Soto in Las Vegas Sept. 17, 2004. It only went three rounds and was declared a no contest due to an accidental head butt suffered by Solis. But the partial scores were telling of the gap in skills between the two Mexican ring warriors. The judges had it 30-26 and 29-27 and press reports underlined that the now 35-5-2 Soto was “dominating.”
Having said that, Solis is nobody’s tomato can either. He stopped 16-4 Omar Lizarraga in his last bout and you know that any Mexicano fighting so close to the border is going to give an extra effort. Arum is loading up the card with Mexican stars such as world champ Jorge Arce and son of the legend, JC Chavez Jr.
The younger brother, 25, won his world title by beating American veteran “Steel” Will Grigsby in New York
It looks as though Trampler accomplished his boss-driven mission. Arum’s order was “solid but safe” and that is what the matchmaker delivered.
