By Jim Dower: Undefeated heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (15-0, 7 KO’s) is looking to take his career to the next level to try and fight one of the Klitschko brothers if he can defeat heavyweight contender Alexander Dimitrenko (32-1, 21 KO’s) on May 5th in their fight for the vacant EBU (European) heavyweight title at the Messehalle, in Erfurt, Thüringen, Germany.

Pulev, #13 IBF, #13 WBO, has good size at 6’4 1/2″ 250lbs and good power to go along with it. He’s not particularly fast or quick on his feet, but his strength, size, reach and strong chin make him a formidable task for any heavyweight in the division right now.

Pulev said “First I want to be the champion of Europe. After that, I will start thinking about which Klitschko I want to fight next.”

Dimitrenko, 6’7″, will have the size and reach advantage against Pulev, but this figures to be a fight where Dimitrenko may end up getting stopped for the first time. He’s shown a lot of vulnerability in his carefully matched career, and he doesn’t look like a really stable fighter. He was beaten by Eddie chambers and struggled in some of his other fights against Albert Sosnowski and several others.

Dimitrenko has the talent to beat Pulev, but you have to question his chin and his ring intelligence. Dimitrenko makes a lot of questionable choices in the ring and seems to take away his own size by electing to trade rather than use his height to jab on the outside. He’s even taller than 6’6″ Wladimir Klitschko, but he doesn’t use his jab nearly as much for some reason. It makes his fights so much harder, because he tries to fight in close and he doesn’t have the power for that kind of fighting.

Pulev has looked really good in his last four fights, beating Maksym Pedyura, Derric Rossy, Travis Walker and Michael Sprott. At 30, Pulev looks to be getting better and better. Without the Klitschkos around, Pulev might be good enough to hold down one of the titles. That’s the positive about being only 30 compared to the 40-year-old WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko or the 36-year-old IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Dimitrenko is a hard fighter to understand. He’ll look great in one fight, but then turn around and put in a stinker of a performance and still get the win, but look bad. He was beaten by Eddie Chambers in July 2009. Dimitrenko has since won his last three fights, beating Yaroslav Zavorotnyi, Alberto Sosnowski and Sprott.