Background
He was born in the San Juan area of Río Piedras, but because of the closeness of his birthplace to Caguas, he often trained at the Bairoa Gym in Caguas.
He was born in the San Juan area of Río 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 the Caimito Gym. Solis began his professional boxing career in 1975, outpointing Ray Negron in four on 11 November. On 12 February 1978, he met fringe contender Nivio Nolasco, outpointing him over ten rounds, and travelled to the Dominican Republic, where on 15 March he outpointed Leopoldo Frias 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 16 October for the "Latin American Bantamweight title", winning the regional belt by outpointing Solano over 12 rounds.
Solis continued on his travels in 1980. Foreign his first defense, Solis returned to Miami, but he lost the belt and his undefeated record to Jeff Chandler on November 14 when he was knocked out in the fourteenth round.
This time Chandler did the job in half the time, knocking out Solis in the seventh round. His next fight, with Kiko Bejines (later to die in a boxing related accident) in Los Angeles, also resulted in a seventh round knockout defeat.
Solis started 1982 by winning two fights in San Juan and another one in Chile.
By 1983, he was a popular performer in televised fights, often held in small Puerto Rican cities. In 1985, Solis fought only once, outpointing David Campo. He began 1986 by losing on points to Mike Ayala over ten rounds on 2 March in San Antonio.
They filed a complaint with the Texas state athletic commission, but in vain, as the officials reviewed a tape of the fight and decided the result should stand.
True to his globe-trotting style, only two of those bouts were in Puerto Rico, and he visited Italy, South of Korea, South Africa once again, Miami and various American states. 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.