and began countering and landing some power punch combinations of his own, rocking Dimitrenko at times. Dimitrenko looked faded as he entered round 11. Pulev landed a jab which slowly dropped Dimitrenko to a knee. At this point, he had taken much punishment and remained down. Referee Guido Cavalleri counted him out, giving Pulev an 11th round KO win. A stoppage loss to Pulev appeared to have derailed Dimitrenko's career. Without a prominent promoter and trained by a local gym coach, Dimitrenko scored two uninspiring decisions against journeymen before entering a long stretch of inactivity. Despite rumours about his retirement appearing in the media, Dimitrenko insisted that he was going to return to the ring "as soon as possible". Dimitrenko would spend more than two years out of the sport, from March 2013 to May 2015. He made his return on 30 May 2015, defeating Patryk Kowoll by first-round TKO. He was slated to face former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs in May 2016, but this fell through. On 1 October 2016, Dimitrenko was knocked out in three rounds by Joseph Parker. On 18 March 2017, in an upset, Dimitrenko knocked out undefeated heavyweight contender Adrian Granat in the first round to win the IBF International heavyweight title. On 18 August 2018, Dimitrenko, ranked No. 10 heavyweight contender by the IBF at the time, faced Bryant Jennings, ranked No. 8 by the WBO and No. 11 by the WBA. Jennings ended the fight via a ninth-round TKO. In his next fight, Dimitrenko faced WBA's No. 11 and IBF's No. 15 heavyweight contender Andy Ruiz Jr. Dimitrenko seemed disinterested during the fight, as Andy Ruiz Jr was dominating for most of the rounds. By the end of the fifth, Ruiz Jr started to hurt Dimitrenko, which resulted in Dimitrenko's corner stopping the fight before the beginning of the sixth round. On 13 July 2019, Dimitrenko faced former Olympic gold medal winner Tony Yoka. Yoka made easy work out of the veteran, knocking him out within three rounds in his home country of France. Personal life Dimitrenko became a German citizen in 2010. Professional boxing record Television viewership Germany References External links Alexander Dimitrenko - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings at Box.Live Heavyweight boxers Ukrainian male boxers 1982 births Living people Ukrainian emigrants to Germany European Boxing Union champions German male boxers Naturalized citizens of Germany Super-heavyweight boxers People from Yevpatoria