Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Alexander Dimitrenko (27-0, 17 KOs) stopped German Timo Hoffmann (36-6-1, 20 KOs) in the 12th round to hold onto his World Boxing Organization Inter-Continental heavyweight title tonight at Bordelandhalle, in Magdeburg, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Both fighters were knocked down in the bout, with Hoffmann, 33, being knocked down twice in the 4th and twice in the 12th round, and Dimitrenko being dropped in the 5th round. Along the way, both fighters took turns attacking each other with fierce exchanges, and badly swelling up each other’s faces.
Before the bout, not many people gave Hoffmann much of a chance, figuring he was too old to handle Dimitrenko. However, Hoffmann attacked Dimitrenko with hard jabs and right hands from the outset, backing up Dimitrenko and winning the first round. Dimitrenko responded well, showing good movement and landing powerful body shots. In the 3rd round, Dimitrenko caught Hoffmann with several huge right hands as he waded forward. In the fourth round, Hoffmann caught Dimitrenko with a hard right uppercut, which angered him more than hurt him.
Dimitrenko responded with a flurry of eight punches, knocking Hoffmann to the canvas. In the fifth round, however, Hoffmann came out looking determined, as he attacked Dimitrenko with hard jabs and right hands, backing him to his corner. Suddenly, Hoffmann landed a right-left combination that dropped Dimitrenko to the canvas. At first, it seemed like a slip but on closer look, the left hand had hurt Dimitrenko and sent him down. Hoffmann would spend the rest of the round pounding Dimitrenko with right hands, and hurting him even more.
In the sixth round, Hoffmann would continue with his assault on Dimitrenko, hitting him with powerful jabs and right hands. Dimitrenko attempted to fight back, but he couldn’t match Hoffmann punch for punch, at least not yet.
In the 7th round, however, Dimitrenko began to take over the fight. He showed an outstanding offensive arsenal beginning in this round, throwing lead right hands, left hooks, upper cuts and numerous jabs. Hoffmann didn’t know how to deal with all the different angles Dimitrenko was attacking him from. To ad to that, Dimitrenko was showing excellent movement, making it hard for Hoffmann to catch up to him.
In the 8th round, Dimitrenko look to be getting warmed still, as he looked very relaxed, shotting big right hands and pulverizing jabs at the face of Hoffmann. By this time, Hoffmann’s face had swelled badly, his nose looking to be broken.
Dimitrenko continued his domination in rounds none through eleven, pasting Hoffmann with huge right hands and showing great athleticism along the way. Going into the 12th, the fight was still pretty close due to the typical backwards German judging, and the fight was still up for grabs, despite the fact that Dimitrenko had won all but two of the rounds on my cards. Immediately as the 12th round started, Dimitrenko landed two monstrous right hands, hurting Hoffmann and backing him up. It was as if Dimitrenko had been saving his strength all this time for the exact moment to unleash it, as he hadn’t punched with this kind of power in any of the other rounds. It almost seemed like a completely different fight, because every punch Dimitrenko landed in the round was incredibly hard. To slow down Dimitrenko’s momentum.
Hoffmann landed a low blow that sent Dimitrenko to the canvas. After taking a minute breather, Dimitrenko immediately landed a huge right followed by two lefts that dropped Hoffmann to the canvas on all fours. The fight resumed after Hoffmann made it up before the count of ten, and the rest of the beating continued as Dimitrenko methodically beat Hoffmann from one side of the ring to the other, ending with another knockdown, this time a right hand to Hoffmann’s shoulder.
The referee Andre Van Grootenbrue seemed to have mistaken the blow for a head shot and prematurely stopped the fight. It hardly mattered, as Hoffmann was taking a beating and wasn’t going to win the fight even if it had continued in light of the two knockdowns.