By Alexey Sukachev

Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany - It was the shortest fight in Vitali Klitschko's championship career and one of his shortest fights as a prizefighter. It took the WBC heavyweight champion less than three minutes to arguably lose the first round of his collision with previously unbeaten 2004 Olympic gold medal winner Odlanier Solis (17-1, 12 KOs) - before scoring a disappointing injury-forced knockout of his chubby opponent.

WBC #1 and WBO #6 Solis started this fight pretty well. He used his right hand to trouble the champion (Klitschko's left hand being low as usual) with well-placed overhand punches. Klitschko used his own jab to keep Solis mostly at bay but not always as the Cuban fighter was very effective with his counter-punches.

The fight finished in the blink of an eye in final ten seconds of the first round. Klitschko threw a right hook which barely penetrated Solis' tight block. Yet the challenger suddenly made a couple of steps back when his left knee buckled, and he fell backwards with his back hitting hard on the canvas.

Referee Guadalupe Garcia started the count but Solis barely made it to his feet. Once he stood up, Solis appeared to wobble again and the fight was waved off at the very end of the round. Official time was 3:00 and the official result was announced as a knockout. However, the replay showed that it was an injury to Solis' his left leg (though he pointed to his right) which caused both the knockdown and the subsequent stoppage.