Alexander Viktorovych "Sascha" Dimitrenko (; born 5 July 1982) is a Ukrainian Born German former professional boxer who held the European heavyweight title from 2010 to 2011. Amateur career Dimitrenko began boxing at the age of fourteen. Representing Russia, he won the 2000 World Junior Championships in the super-heavyweight division at the age of eighteen, with German promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl offering him a deal immediately afterwards. Dimitrenko signed with Kohl's Universum promotion company and moved to Hamburg to begin his professional career. Professional career Early career Dimitrenko made his professional debut on 8 December 2001, stopping Marcus Johnson in four rounds on the undercard of the fight between Vitali Klitschko and Ross Puritty. Dimitrenko's professional debut averaged over 5 million viewers on Sat.1. Standing at an imposing , he was widely regarded as one of the top contenders for a future world title opportunity. He compiled a record of 14 wins in 14 bouts, ending 10 of them inside the distance, 8 of them - inside the first two rounds. He was then scheduled to face his first notable opponent, Ross Puritty. The bout generated attention in both Germany and Ukraine, given Puritty's win over Wladimir Klitschko six years prior, with Dimitrenko entertaining the idea of beating someone who had defeated one of the Klitschkos. The bout was scheduled to happen on 31 July 2004, but Purrity pulled out after suffering an elbow injury during training camp while sparring with Juan Carlos Gomez. Puritty pulled out just three days before the scheduled date. Instead, Dimitrenko faced former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Julius Francis, who at the time was used as a stepping stone by some of the rising prospects, such as Audley Harrison and Volodymyr Vyrchys, and as a stay-busy fight by heavyweight contenders. Dimitrenko won the bout by a lopsided unanimous decision (UD), with all three judges scoring the bout identically 80–72, giving Dimitrenko every round. The fight between Dimitrenko and Puritty was re-scheduled to take place on 6 November 2004, with Dimitrenko agreeing for a tune-up bout against Andy Sample. Dimitrenko defeated Sample by second-round TKO. On 6 November 2004, he finally faced Puritty in an anticipated showdown that was televised by ZDF. The fight was part of the three-fight main event which also saw Sergiy Dzindziruk defending his European welterweight title against Hussein Bayram, and Mario Veit defending WBO world super-middleweight title against Charles Brewer. Dimitrenko