Englishman." Harrison openly stated his interest in fighting David Haye while also eyeing a bout against one of the Klitschkos; he admitted that the victory over Dimitrenko would pave him a way to the Klitschko bout as it would allow him to become the top 10 contender of each of the major sanctioning bodies. On 9 June, Harrison was stripped of the title. Eventually Dimitrenko agreed to face Dennis Bakhtov (33–5, 23 KOs) for the vacant European heavyweight title on 30 July 2010 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Bakhtov's manager German Titov won the right to promote the bout with a purse bid of €260,000. A few days before the scheduled date, the bout was cancelled due to Bakhtov allegedly suffering an injury. However, there were rumours that the event was cancelled due to Titov's financial problems. Instead, Yaroslav Zavorotnyi (14–4, 12 KOs) came in as a late replacement. The bout took place in Hamburg, Germany. Dimitrenko dominated the entire fight. In the fifth, Dimitrenko pressed Zavorotnyi to the corner and threw a barrage of unanswered punches, prompting Zavorotnyi's corner to throw in the towel. Two successful defences were made in 2011 against British journeyman Michael Sprott and former world title challenger Albert Sosnowski. In February 2012, Dimitrenko announced that he had terminated his contract with Universum Box-Promotion. Soon after, Dimitrenko hired Scott Welch. After two defenses of the European title, Dimitrenko agreed to face undefeated Bulgarian prospect Kubrat Pulev on 5 May 2012 on the undercard of Marco Huck vs. Ola Afolabi. 6 ft 4in tall Pulev, despite making his professional debut at a relatively late age, was highly regarded due to his amateur background and unorthodox fighting style, and was expected to be one of the most dangerous heavyweights to challenge Wladimir Klitschko for the heavyweight title. Many observers were giving both fighters an even chance to win, and expected the winner of this bout to fight for the title in the near future. Pulev and his trainer Otto Ramin expected a tough fight although Dimitrenko had not fought since September 2011. Dimitrenko weighed in at , 12 lbs heavier than Pulev. The fight took place at Messehalle in Erfurt, Germany, and was aired live on Das Erste. Dimitrenko started the fight well, using his height and reach to his advantage. He also moved well on his feet to avoid punishment. In round 4, Pulev began to find his range