Alexander Dimitrenko

Early life and amateur career

Dimitrenko was born in Crimea, Ukraine. He began boxing at the age of fourteen. 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 emigrated to Hamburg to begin his professional career. He became a German citizen in 2010. Standing at an imposing 2.01 metres (6 ft 7 in), he was widely regarded as one of the top contenders for a future world title opportunity.

Professional career

Dimitrenko made his professional debut on 8 December 2001, stopping Marcus Johnson in four rounds. On 6 November 2004, he faced rugged journeyman Ross Puritty, who had been the first to defeat future world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in 1998. Winning a ten-round unanimous decision (UD), Dimitrenko passed what was seen as his first real test. In his next outing, on 5 March 2005, he won his first regional championship—the IBF Youth heavyweight title—in a ten-round UD over Chris Koval. This was bettered on 2 July 2005, when Dimitrenko picked up two vacant regional championships—the IBF and WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight titles—after a second-round knockout of Andreas Sidon.

After two further reigns as WBO Inter-Continental champion, Dimitrenko suffered his first professional loss on 7 July 2009, in a majority decision against Eddie Chambers. During the fight, Dimitrenko received a standing eight count after a body punch in round seven, and was knocked down in the tenth. He bounced back a year later, on 31 July 2010, scoring a fifth-round stoppage over Yaroslav Zavorotnyi to win the vacant European heavyweight title. Two successful defences were made in 2011, but a late-rounds knockout loss to Kubrat Pulev on 5 May 2012 appeared to have derailed Dimitrenko's career. Dimitrenko would spend more than two years out of the sport, from March 2013 to May 2015. 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.

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.