PHARR – All eyes were focused on the Heavyweight bout between Cuban native Odlanier Solis and Konstantin Airich of Germany as they took to the ring for their scheduled 12-round championship fight at the Pharr Convention Center.

Solis (18-1, 12 KO’s) defeated Airich (22-5-2, 16 KO’s) by unanimous decision to capture the IBF Intercontinental Heavyweight title.

Solis returned to the ring for the first time in fourteen months after a knee injury suffered in his last bout with Vitali Klitschko for the WBC Heavyweight title and never showed signs of fatigue or ring rust against Airich.

“I feel real good,” said Solis. “I had everything I needed for this fight.”

MCALLEN – Before Thursday evening, Cuban native Odlanier Solis had no idea that he was going to be part of Rio Grande Valley boxing history.

However, once the 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist found out he would be involved in the first ever Heavyweight title fight in the Valley, he had two words to say.

“Super excited,” said Solis.

Solis (17-1, 12 KO’s) makes his return to the ring after suffering a 1^st round loss due to a knee injury in his fight against the WBC champion Vitali Klitschko a year ago and will face Konstantin Airich (23-5-2, 17 KO’s) of Germany in a 12-round battle for Airich’s IBF Inter-Continental Heavyweight title as a part of “Fight Night in Pharr” on Saturday night at the Pharr Events Center.

RGV Canvas Warriors.com staff writer Vinnie Davis had a phone conversation with Jerry Belmontes for a question and answer session as he prepares to return to the ring for the first time in eleven months.

Q:  Hello Jerry it’s good to have a chance to talk to you.  How are you doing?

A: I’m doing great.  We just finished up training in Dallas.  I’m back in Corpus Christi for Mother’s Day and then we are heading to the Valley for the fight.

Q: Do you come from a boxing family? How did you get started in the sport?

A: My dad used to be a boxer.  He took me to the gym to watch my brother spar when I was ten and I fell in love with it.

Q: You had quite the amateur career.  How did that prepare you as a professional fighter?

A: It prepared me good. I was the best in the World at 132 lbs. I got the skills from dad; he taught me everything I know.

PHARR -- People get excited when someone they know is going to be on a fight card. But the friends and family of the Tovar’s get to be excited twice in one night because not only is Raul Tovar fighting Saturday the 19^th during “Fight Night at Pharr” at the Pharr Convention Center, but so is his younger cousin Oscar Tovar Jr.

“We are going to fight our hearts out, “said Tovar Jr. “Knowing our family is going to be there for us is going to be great.”

Raul Tovar is also looking forward to the event.

“It’s always great to have another opportunity and to get exposure,” said Tovar. “Doing it alongside my cousin is even better.”

Promoter Anthony Cavazos says this is the first time two relatives are fighting on the same card and being televised together from the Valley.

“What’s so special about these guys is that they are both big punchers and they both come to fight,” said Cavazos.

PHARR – Both Felix Piedra and Juan Ruiz have their own sides to their stories as to why their so called “Bad Blood” match has been delayed for quite some time now.

But come next Saturday, all of the trash talking will come to an end as they finally do battle in the featured attraction of “Fight Night In Pharr” on Saturday, May 19^th at the Pharr Events Center.

Piedra (8-0-1, 5 KO’s) claims that Ruiz has been ducking him three times already and that there is no more running on the 19^th.

“We have been scheduled to fight for three times now and as you can see, it never happened,” said Piedra. “We were supposed to fight on a previous Cavazos card, the I Promotions card and then as a part of Borderwars. But close to those fights, he always had an excuse as to why we wouldn’t fight and it was getting irritating.”

LAS VEGAS -- With all the anticipation that was looming around for the Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto fight in Las Vegas Saturday Night, many in the Valley were looking forward to one of the undercard bouts featuring Weslaco’s Omar Figueroa Jr. against Robbie Cannon of Missouri.

Figueroa (16-0-1, 13 KO’s) defeated Cannon (12-7-2, 6 KO’s) by TKO in the 2nd round of their match which was scheduled for eight rounds. Figueroa outclassed his opponent and didn’t seem to have any trouble controlling the entire fight.

Figueroa went to work early in the 1st round with a combination of body shots and left hooks to the head of Cannon.  His attack paid off at the 1:41 mark of the same round when he landed a left hook to Cannon’s body which stunned him.  The referee gave Cannon an eight count, but he was able to continue.  Figueroa easily controlled the rest of the round while Cannon cautiously threw punches until the end of the round.

CORPUS CHRISTI – When Corpus Christi native Hector Munoz (8-4) walked out to the cage at the American Bank Center for his fight, the crowd literally shook the building in support of their hometown fighter.

However, the crowd was silenced after Pharr native Carlos Diego (3-0) pulled off a huge victory over the hometown kid by arm bar submission in the first round of their 165-pound catch weight bout as a part of the Ultimate Warrior Fighting Tournament of Champions.

Even though Diego was victorious, he can’t advance in the tournament since it was at a catch weight. However, Diego was just happy to pick up the win.

“To me, it didn’t matter that I wasn’t going to compete in the tournament,” said Diego. “My main goal was to get a win and I am glad I was able to accomplish it.”

“Hector is a tough fighter and a very popular guy since he is from Corpus. But it didn’t matter to me where he was from or that I was fighting in his hometown. MMA is my work and I came here tonight to do my job. This is my night and I am going to enjoy it.”

CORPUS CHRISTI – San Antonio’s Hector Munoz was at the wrong place at the wrong time last night.

Munoz was involved in a car accident Wednesday night and as a result of it, he was unable to compete in the 155-pound tournament at the “UWF Tournament of Warriors” event tomorrow night at the American Bank Center.

“A car pulled out in front of me last night which caused me to swerve and crash into a telephone pole,” said Munoz, who was born and raised in Rio Grande City. “I got out of the hospital this morning and actually feel 100 percent.”

“But due to the IV’s last night, I gained some weight and had to pull out of the tournament.”

However, Munoz will still be a part of the fight card as he will face Carlos Diego Ferreira in a catch weight fight.

“It is very disappointing because I really felt I had a good chance of competing in this tournament,” said Munoz. “In fact, a lot of fighters were relieved once they found out I was not going to fight in the tournament.”

“But, I still am going to get a chance to compete and I am going to be in a tough fight. Carlos is a tough fighter and it will be a good test. But I am at 100 percent and it’s going to take a lot more than a car wreck to stop me from competing.”

Munoz was originally scheduled to fight Victor Hernandez in the first round of the tournament. But due to the fact that Munoz cannot compete, UWF president Oscar Enriquez said that Hernandez will face another opponent.

“Hernandez will face Chris Quitiquit in the first round,” said Enriquez.

In other tournament action at 155, Gilbert Jimenez will face Scott Cleve and Reynaldo Trujillo will face Christopher Pecero.

In the 170 pound weight division, Justin Guthrie will face Jon Knutson and Mitch Whitesel will face Chuck Parmalee.

One bout of interest in the 170-pound weight class in the tournament is Lucas Pimenta who will face former UFC fighter Shamar Bailey.

John Malbough is the only fighter in the tournament who has already advanced to the semi-finals since his opponent Larry Hopkins failed to make weight.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. with the first fight scheduled to kickoff at 7:00 p.m.

LAS VEGAS -- The stage is set and an opponent has been announced for Weslaco’s Omar Figueroa Jr. (15-0-1, 12 KO’s) this Saturday evening in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Arena.  Figueroa will face Robbie Cannon (12-6-2, 3 KO’s) of Missouri on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Miguel Cotto fight.

Though Cannon has five losses and one draw in his last nine fights, the Figueroa’s aren’t going to take him lightly.

“I have seen fighters get over confident when they look at records,” said Omar Figueroa Sr. “At this point in my son’s career, we take everyone seriously and will do the same against Cannon.”

It is still undetermined if Figueroa’s fight will be televised on HBO and no one may actually know until that day.

AUSTIN -- When Yuandale Evans (16-1 KO’s 12) got knocked out in the 1^st round by Javier Fortuna (19-0 KO’s 14) on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights in Austin, it meant only thing and it was that Edinburg’s Randy Fuentes was going to fight on T.V.

Fuentes (2-0-1) won by unanimous decision after four rounds in the swing bout against John Montes (1-2) of Laredo in their bout in at the Erwin Center.

In the 1^st round, both fighters tried getting a feel for one another as they were cautiously throwing punches and moving around the ring a lot.  Then things got interesting late in the round when Fuentes caught Montes with a left hook.

“I thought it was a knock down,” said Fuentes.

Apparently so did one of the judges as well because he scored the fight 40-35.  However, to all appearances the referee seemed to treat it as a slip. 

“It was a clean knock down,” said trainer James Gogue. “I didn’t see the referee wave it off as a slip.”

The 2^nd round was a great display of combinations by both fighters and the round that Fuentes seemed to take control of the fight.

“I started feeling pretty good, I was settling down and feeling more relaxed,” said Fuentes.