Alexander Viktorovych "Sascha" Dimitrenko (; born 5 July 1982) is a Ukrainian-born German former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2001 to 2019, and held the European

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

title from 2010 to 2011.

Amateur career

Dimitrenko began boxing at the age of fourteen. Representing Russia, he won the 2000 World Junior Championships in the super-heavyweight division at the age of eighteen, with German promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl offering him a deal immediately afterwards. Dimitrenko signed with Kohl's Universum promotion company and moved to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

to begin his professional career.22-летний украинский тяжеловес александр дмитренко перед поединком с американцем россом пьюрити проведет бой с его соотечественником
/ref>

Professional career

Early career

Dimitrenko made his professional debut on 8 December 2001, stopping Marcus Johnson in four rounds on the undercard of the fight between

Vitali Klitschko Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; ; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv,Ross Puritty. Dimitrenko's professional debut averaged over 5 million viewers on Sat.1. Standing at an imposing , he was widely regarded as one of the top contenders for a future world title opportunity. He compiled a record of 14 wins in 14 bouts, ending 10 of them inside the distance, 8 of them - inside the first two rounds. He was then scheduled to face his first notable opponent, Ross Puritty. The bout generated attention in both Germany and Ukraine, given Puritty's win over

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

six years prior, with Dimitrenko entertaining the idea of beating someone who had defeated one of the Klitschkos. The bout was scheduled to happen on 31 July 2004, but Purrity pulled out after suffering an elbow injury during training camp while sparring with Juan Carlos Gomez. Puritty pulled out just three days before the scheduled date. Instead, Dimitrenko faced former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion

Julius Francis Julius Francis (born 8 December 1964) is a British former professional boxer who participated in many noteworthy boxing matches in the mid 90s and 2000s. In 2007, he also participated in a mixed martial arts bout, having been a former European ...

, who at the time was used as a stepping stone by some of the rising prospects, such as

Audley Harrison Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur, he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and ...

and Volodymyr Vyrchys, and as a stay-busy fight by heavyweight contenders. Dimitrenko won the bout by a lopsided unanimous decision (UD), with all three judges scoring the bout identically 80–72, giving Dimitrenko every round. The fight between Dimitrenko and Puritty was rescheduled to take place on 6 November 2004, with Dimitrenko agreeing for a tune-up bout against Andy Sample. Dimitrenko defeated Sample by second-round TKO. On 6 November 2004, he finally faced Puritty in an anticipated showdown that was televised by

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

. The fight was part of the three-fight main event which also saw Sergiy Dzindziruk defending his European welterweight title against Hussein Bayram, and Mario Veit defending

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

world super-middleweight title against Charles Brewer. Dimitrenko outboxed Puritty for the majority of the fight, staying on the outside and keeping his opponent at the end of his jab. Ultimately, Dimitrenko won the fight by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

(UD), with scores 80–72 (twice) and 79–73.

Rising through the rankings

In his next outing, on 5 March 2005, he faced hard-hitting American prospect, Chris Koval, on the undercard of Felix Sturm vs. Bert Schenk. This was Dimitrenko's first fight scheduled for 10 rounds. Coming into the fight, 22-year old Koval had 20–1 record with 16 KOs, with 11 of them in the first round. Dimitrenko was knocked down in the second round but dominated his opponent throughout the rest of the fight. The bout went full ten rounds, with Dimitrenko being declared the winner by a lopsided unanimous decision with scores 98–91 (twice) and 98–92. This was bettered on 2 July 2005, when Dimitrenko picked up two vacant regional championships — IBF and

Inter-Continental heavyweight titles — after a second-round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

of Andreas Sidon. Dimitrenko then agreed to face Vaughn Bean on September 28, 2005 as part of the card dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of former world heavyweight champion

Max Schmeling Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling (, ; 28 September 1905 – 2 February 2005) was a German boxing, boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cul ...

, with the main event of the night being the

world heavyweight title fight between Luan Krasniqi and Lamon Brewster. The fight card had seven boxers from the former

Soviet Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

scheduled to fight - Dimitrenko, Ruslan Chagaev, Denis Boytsov, Taras Bidenko, Valeriy Chechenev, Bagrat Ohanyan and Alexei Mazikin, with the latter being forced to pull out due to injury. 31-year old Bean, known for having competitive bouts with world champions

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

and

Michael Moorer Michael Lee Moorer (born November 12, 1967) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He won a world championship on four occasions in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 t ...

and having only been stopped by

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

boxer Gonzalo Omar Basile on 28 October 2006. In the build up to the fight, Basile received media attention for his tattoos. During pre-fight press conference, Basile claimed to be "the devil between heavyweights", while Dimitrenko expressed his disgust with "so many tasteless tattoos" on Basile's body, and that he was going to punish Basile for them. In the lead-up to the fight, Dimitrenko's coach Fritz Sdunek said that his fighter was getting better with each bout, and that very soon he would become "the new Klitschko" and fight for the world heavyweight title. The fight took place at Porsche-Arena in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

and was televised on

. It was Basile's first professional bout outside of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. The fight lasted 54 seconds, with Basile's corner throwing in the towel after Basile could not respond to a barrage of shots from Dimitrenko. In his last fight of 2006, Dimitrenko faced an experienced American journeyman Billy Zumbrun on 18 November 2006, only three weeks after beating Basile. Originally, the main event of the card was supposed to be the fight between Felix Sturm and Gavin Topp, but the fight was postponed due to Sturm's injury. Dimitrenko, regarded as a popular commodity in Germany at the time, was considered to be an adequate replacement for Sturm. According to Dimitrenko, the fight turned out to be "tougher than expected". He won by a shut-out unanimous decision, knocking Zumbrun down in the first round and dominating him throughout the rest of the fight. Zumbrun was deducted a point in the tenth round for headbutting. The judges scored the bout 120–105, 119–107 and 120–106. By the end of 2006, Dimitrenko was ranked as the world's ninth best heavyweight by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

. He was also ranked No.4 heavyweight contender by

. Dimitrenko then had two stay-busy fights in the first half of 2007, defeating American heavyweights Danny Batchelder and Malcolm Tann by mid-fight TKOs. By July 2007, Dimitrenko was ranked No.2 contender by WBO, No.6 contender by WBC and No. 10 contender by WBA. He then signed to face Timo Hoffmann on 17 November 2007. Hoffmann, who had previously faced fighters like

Henry Akinwande Henry Adetokunboh Akinwande (born 12 October 1965) is a British former WBO boxing world champion who competed from 1989 to 2008. He held the WBO heavyweight title from 1996 to 1997, as well as the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 1993, and t ...

and was known for his durability, had never been stopped inside the distance coming into this bout and was expected to be a tough challenge for Dimitrenko and an opportunity to elevate Dimitrenko's popularity in Germany. Dimitrenko weighed in at and was outweighed by Hoffmann by . This was also the first professional fight in which Dimitrenko was fighting someone taller than himself. The bout took place at Bördelandhalle in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and was the main event of the card that was aired on

. Both fighters started fighting aggressively and throwing heavy shots from the opening bell, with Dimitrenko appearing to be doing the better work, finding success working Hoffmann's body. At the beginning of the fourth round, Dimitrenko unleashed a barrage of punches that sent Hoffmann to the canvas. Hoffmann got up but was knocked down again after a series of body shots. By the end of the round, Dimitrenko appeared to be tired. Hoffmann regained composure in round 5, pressing Dimitrenko against the ropes and knocking him down with a left hook. In the second half of the fight, both fighters were trading shots, with Dimitrenko having the upper hand in most of the exchanges. By the eighth round, Hoffmann's face was covered in blood, while Dimitrenko had swells above both eyes. Dimitrenko unleashed another barrage of punches in the twelfth round, knocking Hoffmann down again. Hoffmann got up, but was soon dropped again. Dimitrenko then threw a series of unanswered shots, prompting the referee to stop the bout after Hoffmann was dropped again, with 36 seconds left to the end of the fight. Dimitrenko became the first boxer to defeat Timo Hoffmann inside the distance. During post-fight drug testing, Hoffmann tested positive for anabolic steroids. By the end of 2007, Dimitrenko was ranked by BoxRec as the tenth best heavyweight in the world. After defeating Derric Rossy by fifth-round TKO in a stay-busy fight, Dimitrenko then signed to face then-highly regarded German boxer Luan Krasniqi on 18 November in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, as part of the show billed by Universum as "Golden November". Many observers saw this fight as a big step up in competition for Dimitrenko and Krasniqi's last chance to regain his stock after losses to Lamon Brewster and Tony Thompson. During pre-fight press conference, Krasniqi said that if he wouldn't beat Dimitrenko, he was going to retire. The fight lasted only three rounds. In the third round, Dimitrenko dropped Krasniqi with a liver shot. Krasniqi was unable to get up at the count of ten, prompting the referee to stop the fight and declaring Dimitrenko the winner by third-round KO. This was Dimitrenko's fifth stoppage in a row, achieved against opponents with combined record 133–15–3. At the conclusion of 2008, Dimitrenko was ranked No.10 heavyweight in the world by ''The Ring''. He was also ranked No.2 contender by WBO, No.3 by WBC and No.7 contender by WBA and IBF.

WBO world heavyweight title eliminator

After two reigns as WBO Inter-Continental champion, Dimitrenko was scheduled to face Eddie Chambers in a WBO world heavyweight title eliminator. At the time of the fight, Chambers was ranked No.6 heavyweight contender by ''The Ring'', while Dimitrenko was ranked No.8 by the same publication. Dimitrenko was also ranked within top 5 by all major sanctioning bodies. Dimitrenko weighed in at 253 1/4 lbs, outweighing Chambers by 45 1/2 lbs.Event: Dimitrenko vs Chambers
/ref> The fight took place at Color Line Arena in

Hamburg, Germany Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

and was televised by

. Dimitrenko was outboxed for most of the fight, visibly unprepared for Chambers' unusually aggressive approach and unable to keep up with his speed and fighting IQ. Dimitrenko received a standing count in the seventh round after a left hook to the body, and was knocked down in the tenth after another left hook, this time to the chin. Dimitrenko lost the fight by majority decision. The judges scored the bout 117–109 and 116–111 in favor of Chambers, and 113–113 even.

Later fights; inactivity and return

Looking to regain his stock, Dimitrenko agreed to face Luan Krasniqi in a rematch on 28 November 2009 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Some observes criticized the fight, pointing out that Krasniqi hadn't fought in the ring since their first encounter. Dimitrenko dismissed these criticisms, claiming that Krasniqi, despite the long stretch of inactivity, was still a dangerous, highly experienced fighter. Three weeks before the scheduled date, Krasniqi was forced to pull out due to sprained

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

on his right leg. The fight was postponed, then cancelled altogether. Shortly after

(26–4, 20 KOs) defeated Michael Sprott (32–14, 17 KOs) on 9 April for the vacant European heavyweight title, EBU ordered him to fight the mandatory challenger Dimitrenko in his first defense. During the Sprott fight, Harrison allegedly suffered an injury that was going to keep him out of action for four months. Dimitrenko expressed doubt over the alleged injury: " arrisonwas wildly celebrating the victory, jumping and waving his arms. Then he had a surgery. The surgery took place on 24 April. So he was walking in pain for more than two weeks? And only after that he went under the knife? But I have not seen a single official document confirming the injury of an Englishman." Harrison openly stated his interest in fighting David Haye while also eyeing a bout against one of the Klitschkos; he admitted that the victory over Dimitrenko would pave him a way to the Klitschko bout as it would allow him to become the top 10 contender of each of the major sanctioning bodies. On 9 June, Harrison was stripped of the title. Eventually Dimitrenko agreed to face Dennis Bakhtov (33–5, 23 KOs) for the vacant European heavyweight title on 30 July 2010 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Bakhtov's manager German Titov won the right to promote the bout with a purse bid of €260,000. A few days before the scheduled date, the bout was cancelled due to Bakhtov allegedly suffering an injury. However, there were rumours that the event was cancelled due to Titov's financial problems. Instead, Yaroslav Zavorotnyi (14–4, 12 KOs) came in as a late replacement. The bout took place in Hamburg, Germany. Dimitrenko dominated the entire fight. In the fifth, Dimitrenko pressed Zavorotnyi to the corner and threw a barrage of unanswered punches, prompting Zavorotnyi's corner to throw in the towel. Two successful defences were made in 2011 against British journeyman Michael Sprott and former world title challenger Albert Sosnowski. In February 2012, Dimitrenko announced that he had terminated his contract with Universum Box-Promotion. Soon after, Dimitrenko hired Scott Welch. After two defenses of the European title, Dimitrenko agreed to face undefeated

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n prospect Kubrat Pulev on 5 May 2012 on the undercard of

Marco Huck Muamer Hukić (born 11 November 1984), best known as Marco Huck, is a Bosniaks in Germany, Bosniak German professional boxer.. Retrieved 2015-12-01. He held the World Boxing Organization, WBO cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight title from 2009 ...

vs. Ola Afolabi. 6 ft 4in tall Pulev, despite making his professional debut at a relatively late age, was highly regarded due to his amateur background and unorthodox fighting style, and was expected to be one of the most dangerous heavyweights to challenge

for the heavyweight title. Many observers were giving both fighters an even chance to win, and expected the winner of this bout to fight for the title in the near future. Some observers expected the fight to bring Dimitrenko back into the world title contention. Pulev and his trainer Otto Ramin expected a tough fight although Dimitrenko had not fought since September 2011. Dimitrenko weighed in at , 12 lbs heavier than Pulev. The fight took place at Messehalle in

Erfurt, Germany Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

, and was aired live on

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

.Kubrat Pulev Vs Alexander Dimitrenko
/ref> Dimitrenko started the fight well, using his height and reach to his advantage. He also moved well on his feet to avoid punishment. In round 4, Pulev began to find his range and began countering and landing some power punch combinations of his own, rocking Dimitrenko at times. Dimitrenko looked faded as he entered round 11. Pulev landed a jab which slowly dropped Dimitrenko to a knee. At this point, he had taken much punishment and remained down. Referee Guido Cavalleri counted him out, giving Pulev an 11th round KO win. A stoppage loss to Pulev appeared to have derailed Dimitrenko's career. Without a prominent promoter and trained by a local gym coach, Dimitrenko scored two uninspiring decisions against journeymen before entering a long stretch of inactivity. Despite rumours about his retirement appearing in the media, Dimitrenko insisted that he was going to return to the ring "as soon as possible". Dimitrenko would spend more than two years out of the sport, from March 2013 to May 2015. He made his return on 30 May 2015, defeating Patryk Kowoll by first-round TKO. He was slated to face former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs in May 2016, but this fell through. On 1 October 2016, Dimitrenko was knocked out in three rounds by

Joseph Parker Joseph Dennis Parker, (born 9 January 1992) is a New Zealand professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Interim championship, interim heavyweight title since 2024. Previously, he held the WBO heavyweight title from 2016 ...

. On 18 March 2017, in an upset, Dimitrenko knocked out undefeated heavyweight contender Adrian Granat in the first round to win the IBF International heavyweight title. On 18 August 2018, Dimitrenko, ranked No. 10 heavyweight contender by the IBF at the time, faced Bryant Jennings, ranked No. 8 by the WBO and No. 11 by the WBA. Jennings ended the fight via a ninth-round TKO. In his next fight, Dimitrenko faced WBA's No. 11 and IBF's No. 15 heavyweight contender Andy Ruiz Jr. Dimitrenko seemed disinterested during the fight, as Andy Ruiz Jr was dominating for most of the rounds. By the end of the fifth, Ruiz Jr started to hurt Dimitrenko, which resulted in Dimitrenko's corner stopping the fight before the beginning of the sixth round. On 13 July 2019, Dimitrenko faced former Olympic gold medal winner Tony Yoka. Yoka made easy work out of the veteran, knocking him out within three rounds in his home country of France.

Personal life

Dimitrenko became a German citizen in 2010.

Professional boxing record

Television viewership

Germany

References

External links

*
Alexander Dimitrenko - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrenko, Alexander Heavyweight boxers Ukrainian male boxers 1982 births Living people Ukrainian emigrants to Germany European Boxing Union champions German male boxers Naturalized citizens of Germany Super-heavyweight boxers People from Yevpatoria 21st-century German sportsmen