Some 19,000 fans were stunned to see the 39-year-old Ukrainian land a big right hand followed by a left to the top of the head, sending the 2004 Olympic champion, undefeated in all 17 of his professional fights, crashing to the canvas.

Klitschko, whose younger brother Vladimir holds three of the other four world title belts, improved his record to 42 wins and two defeats.

"It was not easy at the start. Solis was pretty fast but he got a hard punch from me. I am so sorry for everybody who wanted a longer fight," Klitschko said in a ringside interview.

The win means that the Klitschkos could end up holding all five world title belts later this year with Britain's David Haye, the WBA title holder, taking on Vladimir in June or July.

"You can see why David Haye chose to fight me and not my brother. He was incredible today," said Vladimir. "David is definitely going to say to Vitaly 'I will fight you down the road but Vladimir is next because he is weaker'."

Much-fancied Solis, a product of Cuba's famed boxing academies, had shed 10 kilos from his previous fight to weigh in at 112 and the 30-year-old was considered by Klitschko as his most serious opponent since Lennox Lewis.

Nicknamed 'the shadow', Solis took the fight straight to the champion, landing several rights early in the round.

But as he went for another big punch, Klitschko saw the opening and struck with his own powerful right and then a left as Solis shook before his wobbly legs gave way and he went down after just three minutes.

With the referee hugging the Cuban and ending the fight, Klitschko went over to Solis, angry that the fight had only lasted less than a round.

Klitschko was eventually led away by his brother to celebrate a surprisingly easy win, while Solis and his team were left speechless and stunned in their corner, the fighter nursing his injured knee and being jeered by the disappointed crowd.

"I hurt my knee when I went down. It was unlucky but unfortunately these things happen," said a dejected Solis. "It will take a lot of time for me to get over this because I am not used to losing."

Bute stops Magee to keep IBF title

In Montreal,  hometown favorite Lucian Bute had warned for a week that Brian Magee would be a tougher opponent than people thought.

Bute was right.

Magee took punches, picked himself up off the canvas three times and kept fighting until Bute dropped him for good Saturday night with an uppercut 2:04 into the 10th round to retain his IBF super middleweight title.

“It was not an easy fight,” said Bute, who improved to 28-0. “I hit him early but he has a very hard head.

“I hit him and hit him and he kept advancing.”

Bute dropped Magee (34-4-1) with a body shot in the sixth and had him down twice in the seventh, once on a low blow that didn’t count as a knockdown and again with a body shot.

Nearly all in the crowd of 12,219 at the Bell Center thought it was another body shot that dropped the 35-year-old Irishman in the 10th, but replays showed it to be a subtle but thundering uppercut to the chin.

“I thought he’d go to the body again,” Magee said. “I didn’t think it would be an uppercut.

“It’s not so bad having a loss on your record against the best in the world. He’s a great champion. I gave it everything. He’s probably the best guy I’ve ever been in with. Very solid, compact, smart.”

The European champion, a loser in his first shot at a world title, said he now hopes to try for the WBA belt.

Meanwhile, the Montreal fighter defended the IBF belt he won in 2007 for the seventh time. Magee failed to go the distance for only the second time in his career.

Both fighters tried to establish the jab in a bout that took place almost entirely in the center of the ring. The first five rounds were mostly even, but there was a sense that the taller, quicker Bute had another move up his sleeve.

It came out in the sixth when a quick left to the midsection put Magee down. The same thing happened in the seventh and then it was matter of time before the knockout blow came.

As Magee winced and fell in the 10th, referee Pete Podgorski of Chicago immediately signaled the end of the fight.

In the co-feature, hard-hitting Pier Olivier Cote of Quebec City stopped Michael Lozada of Mexico with three knockdowns in the first round to win his light welterweight bout.

A crushing right to the ear at 2:50 of the first gave Cote (15-0) an impressive victory over Lozada (37-8-1) and a second straight one-round win.

The victory assured Cote of a spot on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley fight May 7 in Las Vegas against an opponent yet to be announced. However, Cote said his top priority is to fight for a North American title and he would take that over a non-title bout, even in Las Vegas.

The 26-year-old Cote was born in Colombia, but at 18 months old was adopted by Rejean Cote and Christiane Pleau of Charlesbourg, Quebec.

He started boxing at 20 and was Canadian amateur champion within two years. He turned pro in 2008 and has impressed many with his devastating right-hand shots.