Dimitrenko Stops Zavorotnyi in Five, Wins Euro Belt

Hamburg, Germany - Ukrainian IBF #6, WBO #9 and WBA #15 heavyweight Alexander Dimitrenko (30-1, 20 KOs) is a new European champion after the fifth-round TKO over hugely overmatched compatriot Yaroslav Zavorotnyi (14-5, 12 KOs). Zavorotnyi, who got his chance by stopping previously undefeated Russian Maxim Maslov in March for the EBU-EE minor title, was never in the game. He was very passive allowing comebacking Dimitrenko, who was last seen in the ring more than a year ago, to connect both to his head and to his body with hard, clean punches and giving him almost no chance to respond. Zavorotnyi was ready to go at the end of the third but a factual end to this contest came at 1:25 of the fifth after another series of Alexander's punches. His opponent was down moments prior to that on another combination of Dimitrenko's blows.