According to eastsideboxing.com, Per Ake Persson reports that undefeated heavyweight challenger Alexander Dimitrenko (27-0, 17 KOs) will put his unbeaten record on the line when he takes on fellow Universum fighter Luan Krasniqi (30-3-1, 14 KOs) in a bout likely to take place in Germany. Dimitrenko, 27, 2nd in the World Boxing Organization (WBO), 8th in the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and 10th in the World Boxing Association (WBA), and is considered by many to be one of the top heavyweight challengers in the division.
At 6’7″ 250 lbs, Dimitrenko’s fighting style closely resembles that of Wladimir Klitschko, the IBF heavyweight champion and also Ukrainian, like Dimitrenko. In his last bout, Dimitrenko had a time time with German Timo Hoffmann, who traded knockdowns with Dimitrenko earlier in the bout, before ultimately being stopped by Dimitrenko. The fight was never in question, as Dimitrenko had much more skills, but Hoffmann’s excellent jab and all out attacks made it interesting for awhile. Afterwards, Hoffmann tested positive for steroids, which may account for him putting on a much better than average performance against Dimtrenko.
As for Krasniqi, he’s coming off of a 5th round TKO loss to WBO #1 ranked heavyweight Tony Thompson. It was the 2nd knockout loss in the past two years for the 36 year-old Krasnigi, who lost to the hard-punching Lamon Brewster in 2005. At 36, Krasniqi is nearing the end of his career, and is acting more as a trail horse at this stage. Blessed with both power and size, at 6’3 1/2, Krasniqi unfortunately never accomplished much in his career, never rising above European Boxing Union heavyweight champion. Like many fighters in Germany, they tend to be content to fight most of their opposition in the country against easy set up fights, rarely taking on top world class fighters.
Perhaps the hight point of Krasniqi’s career was a 6th round TKO of Lance “Mount” Whitaker, who Krasniqi blasted out with a beautiful right hand bomb in their May 2005 bout. In his next bout, Krasniqi would lose by 9th round TKO to World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster, a bout in which Krasniqi had a commanding lead at the time of the stoppage. Instead of fighting smart, and protecting his lead over Brewster, Krasniqi tried to foolishly slug with him in the 8th and 9th rounds, going against his corner’s advice and paying for it. Krasniqi doesn’t figure to beat the giant 6’7″ Dimitrenko, and will likely fold as easy as he did against Tony Thompson.
It will, however, be a good test for Dimitrenko, as Krasniqi has world class power and if he can catch him with a big shot, who knows? Maybe Krasniqi can get a win. I wouldn’t bet on it, though.