Exclusive interview with Alexander Dimitrenko

Exclusive interview with Alexander Dimitrenko By Pavel Yakolov: October 6, 2012) Alexander Dimitrenko is still in the heavyweight title chase, and there are reasons why his best performances may occur in the future. Just 29 years old, the Ukrainian is still young, especially for a heavyweight. At 6’7”, 245 lbs., he towers over his opposition, has superb offensive skills, speed, and athleticism. Dimitrenko packs power in both hands, possesses a whiplash jab, and is one of the division’s best combination punchers.

Currently 32-2 (21 KO’s), Dimitrenko lost his last bout, against the top-rated Kubrat Pulev. However, the fight was closely contested for most of the match, which Dimitrenko entered under unfavorable personal and athletic circumstances. Considering that Pulev may be the world’s leading heavyweight outside of the Klitschko brothers and David Haye, the loss should not be considered career-breaking.

Now a free agent after a decade fighting for Universum Box Promotions, Dimitrenko is exploring new promotional opportunities. Noteworthy is that he hopes to campaign in American rings in the future. In this exclusive ESB interview, Dimitrenko discusses his career and plans.

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Sergio Martinez named WBC Fighter of the Month for September for win over Chavez Jr

By Marcus Richardson: Sergio Martinez’s win over WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last month on September 15th has earned the 37-year-old Martinez WBC’s Fighter of the Month for September. Saul Alvarez was given Honorable mention for his win over Josesito Lopez on the same date.

Martinez’s win was extra special though as he wasn’t fighting someone a division or two below him like Alvarez was with Lopez. Martinez was actually out-sized by the 180+ pound Chavez Jr. in this fight and yet was still able to dominate him with ease for 11 rounds before having to hang on in the 12th to preserve the win after getting careless and knocked down by the young 26-year-old Chavez Jr.

Martinez never flinched as he got back to his feet and kept firing away with his own power shots until the bell rang. That little bit of drama helped Martinez because now boxing fans are interested in seeing a rematch between him and Chavez Jr. Had Martinez not been dropped then there would be demand for a second fight between them.

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Roach hopes to end his losing streak with Pacquiao’s next fight against Marquez

By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach was on the top of the world a couple of years ago with fighters like Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao all fighting well for him and making him look like a genius. However, thinks have really gone downhill for Roach with his fighters Jorge Linares, Amir Khan, Chavez Jr. and Pacquiao all losing recently. Linares has lost has last two fights, Khan has lost his last two fights as well, Chavez Jr. was recently beat as was Pacquiao. That’s 0-6 for Roach in terms of his big name fighters.

There are already a lot of boxing fans coming out of the woodwork saying that Roach was always an overrated trainer to begin with, that he lucked out when the naturally gifted athlete Pacquiao decided to train with him many years ago.

There’s no question that Roach is a good trainer, but what is debatable is his ability to teach defense. Khan recently left his stable in order to find a new trainer in Virgil Hunter, who he believes can teach him the defensive skills that were missing from his time with Roach.

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Hatton can’t decide who he’d do better against – Khan or Kell Brook

By Michael Collins: Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton returns to the ring next month against former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko on November 24th in Manchester, England. If Hatton looks really good in blowing out Senchenko, he could find the pressure mounting for him to fight Amir Khan or Kell Brook in fights that would be positively huge in the UK. Hatton, 33, still wants to prove himself worthy of facing both of those guys by getting past Senchenko in style and perhaps some other fighters.

In an interview by Kugan Cassius of IFilm London, Hatton said “It’s really hard to say [who Hatton would do better against]. I’d have to sit on the fence and go right down the middle. If Amir Khan gets drawn into a fight, it goes to the blue corner. But if Amir sticks to his boxing ability and moves and uses his hand speed, then obviously you’d have to side with Amir by a slight edge. I really can’t split between the two of them.”

Hatton goes onto say that he has to prove himself against Senchenko before he’s mentioned with Khan and Brook. However, I just wonder how much Hatton will have proven even if he does blow out Senchenko.

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Broner vs. Burns in early 2013, says Warren

By Michael Collins: Promoter Frank Warren is interested in matching his guy WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) and American star Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KO’s) if the two fighters can win their next upcoming fights this year. Burns will be fighting on December 15th, presumably against a top 10 lightweight contender, and Broner will be challenging WBC lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco on November 17th in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Both Burns and Broner are expected to win their next fights, which could set up a mouthwatering fight between them in early 2013 in February or March.

Warren said to Frankwarren.com “Provided Rickster prevails, I have an understanding with Golden Boy [Promotions] for him [Burns] to lock horns with white hot U.S hope Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner in late February or early March…I’m more than happy for my man to meet, and beat, Broner in a little unifier on either side of the Atlantic.”

Golden Boy will snatch this fight up in a second because this would give Broner a great chance of picking up another world title and putting himself in the position where he’ll have half of the lightweight titles. The only lightweight titles that will be out of Broner’s clutches are the IBF and WBA titles, but Broner can capture those belts as well if he really wants to put the time in going after them.

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Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Will Junito be in trouble on Dec 1st?

By Joseph Herron – With less than two months until the highly anticipated face-off between three division world champion Miguel Angel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) and Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KOs), many fight scribes and boxing fans are concerned that the Caguas warrior picked on the wrong Junior Middleweight title holder.

The current WBA Junior Middleweight Champ is quite certain the future Hall of Famer made a miscalculated decision in selecting him as an “opponent”.

“First of all, Miguel Cotto is a warrior who has never backed away from any challenge, and I’ve always had the utmost respect for him as one of the best representatives of the sport,” admits Austin Trout. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to fight him on December 1st at Madison Square Garden. But with that said…he messed up.”

“He shouldn’t have done it, because I’m going to win this fight. I honestly don’t see how I can lose against Miguel Cotto.”

Although the Las Cruces, New Mexico resident is always confident before a big fight, Austin seems eerily self-assured that he will indeed be successful on December 1st.

“Without taking anything away from Miguel Cotto, I just feel that I will be the faster, stronger, taller, and better technical fighter on fight night. I believe that I have better attributes on many different levels. I know he is a very good puncher and a smart fighter with a lot of experience in the ring, but he’s also 5’7” with a short reach.”

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Audley Harrison: Deontay Wilder punches like a mule, he could beat David Price

By Michael Collins: Former 2000 super heavyweight Olympic gold medalist Audley Harrison (28-5, 21 KO’s) figures he’s had the best preparation available for his fight next Saturday night on October 13th against British heavyweight champion David Price (13-0, 11 KO’s) at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom.

Harrison, 40, just spent four weeks with unbeaten former 2008 heavyweight Olympic bronze medalist Deontay Wilder (25-0, 25 KO’s) taking him through some tough sparring sessions and Harrison sees himself ready to take anything that Price can give after surviving those four weeks with the big 6’7″ Wilder.

Harrison told Sky Sports News “I’ve found people that can match David Price and possibly beat David Price. Deontay Wilder. That’s the best sparring I can get for David Price…Deontay Wilder punches like a mule, and he’s fast. And I had four weeks of him, and some days he was catching me with clean shots. I know I’m going to be able to take [Price’s punches].”

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Khan vs Molina on Showtime on December 15th

By Michael Collins: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) now has a venue, a U.S cable network carrier and a date for his next fight against lightweight Carlos Molina (17-0, 17 KO’s). Khan, 25, will be fighting Molina on December 15th on Showtime on in the U.S. a the Sports Arena, in Los Angeles, California. It’s a date the conflicts with a Top Rank card headlined by WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley possibly against light welterweight Lamont Peterson on HBO. As such, the audience for both fights will be much less than could be, not either of the main events are all that interesting.

One question you have to wonder about is whether Khan’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions attempted to sell the Khan vs. Molina fight to HBO first and were turned down? HBO is where Khan’s fights have been televised recently in the U.S, and there have been rumors that they previously turned offers of Khan vs. Joan Guzman and Khan vs. Humberto Soto. If so, then it’s not surprising that they might have turned down Khan-Molina because this fight would seem a much bigger mismatch than those fight.

I’d pick Guzman and Soto to beat Molina every day of the week. I rate them as much better fighters than Molina. Not even close. The only thing that I can see that Molina has going for him is an unbeaten record but those wins have come against weak opposition, so it’s really not surprising that he still has an unbeaten record.

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Cotto says he wasn’t offered $13 million for Pacquiao rematch

By Michael Collins: Former WBA World junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto is saying that he was never offered the $13 million to fight Manny Pacquiao in a rematch, according to ESPN. Cotto claims that he was given the exact same deal as he did when he fought Pacquiao at a catchweight of 145 lbs back in 2009. Because the offer was the same for a rematch, Cotto decided not to fight Pacquiao a second time. Cotto also didn’t like the idea of fighting Pacquiao at a catchwweight of 150 pounds, which would have likely benefited more than Cotto.

Cotto said in an interview by Dan Rafael at ESPN “The only offer Top Rank ever made us was the same money as in 2009. [Arum] made the same offer he made in 2009, and we found it kind of funny. That was the reason we decided not to face Pacquiao. That, and they also wanted me to go down to 150 pounds and given him the same advantage that they gave Pacquiao in 2009.”

The last time it was a catchweight of 145 lbs, but now it’s a little higher at 150. However, Cotto has filled out since then and it’s a lot harder for him to boil down to make weight. It’s not all that surprising that Cotto didn’t want to have to deal with another catchweight after the bad experience he had the last time he fought Pacquiao.

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Pacquiao starts training camp on October 15th; Marquez already training in Mexico

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao will be starting his training camp on October 15th with trainer Freddie Roach at the Wildcard Gym in Los Angeles, California. Pacquiao and Roach plan on trying to take Pacquiao back to where he was in his earlier days when he was a seek and destroy fighter. For whatever reason Pacquiao has evolved into a slow plodder that moves with great effort, can’t cut off a ring very well, and who only fights hard for the last 30 to 40 seconds of every round. Pacquiao thinks he can get back to the form of his early youth by working out harder.

Pacquiao is currently being put through his paces by one of his team members Buboy Fernandez, but this isn’t the official start of his training camp.

As for Marquez, he’s already busy working out in the mountains of Mexico and is reportedly training at the 15,354 foot Nevado de Toluca, in the mounts of Mexico to work on his conditioning. According to the Manila Bulletin, Marquez plans on working at high altitude for 10 days to build up his endurance for the Pacquiao fight.

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