By Erik Schmidt: According to European news correspondent Per Ake Persson, Alexander Povetkin won’t be fighting Alexander Dimitrenko for the vacant European Boxing Union heavyweight title. Apparently, there wasn’t a TV date before August 29, so now Dimitrenko is looking at facing the next highest rated fighter in the division which turns out to be Martin Rogan (12-0, 6 KOs).
This sets up an intriguing bout if Rogan is interested in taking the fight, because the 6’7″ Dimitrenko is ranked #1 in the WBO and is one of the best heavyweights in the division.
If Rogan was looking for an excellent opponent, he couldn’t go wrong by choosing Dimitrenko who I consider a couple levels above Rogan’s last opponent Matt Skelton. Rogan struggled back and forth with Skelton for 10 rounds before finally putting him away in the 11th in their February 2009 bout.
That fight was a huge leap up in competition for Rogan, who many people thought would lose the fight. However, it would probably be asking Rogan way too much for him to fight an even better fighter than Skelton at this point. My guess is that Rogan won’t take the fight and will opt for an easier opponent in the UK.
Rogan’s next fight is on May 15th against Sam Sexton at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Ireland. Right now Rogan is one of the hottest fighters in the UK, so he can probably pick and choose who he wants to fight. Dimitrenko would be a popular choice for Rogan but with a huge risk attached to it due to Dimitrenko’s size and talent.
Rogan is listed at 6’3”, but is probably closer to 6’1” and doesn’t have a long reach. He’d have to turn the fight into a brawl at close range in order to have any chance of beating Dimitrenko. The fight would be a nightmare for Rogan if Dimitrenko decided to fight the bout at a distance using his jab and left hook.
If that turned out to be the case, Rogan wouldn’t stand a chance and would be sliced to bits by Dimitrenko. I doubt Rogan will stand a chance no matter where the fight is fought, but at least on the inside Rogan would have a sliver of a chance.
Dimitrenko fights well on the inside unfortunately and has a better uppercut than Rogan, so it wouldn’t just be the case of Rogan smothering him all night long.
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