Lohbruegge, Hamburg, Germany – Alexander Dimitrenko (32-1, 21 KOs) took a unanimous decision victory over Michael Sprott (36-17, 17 KOs) to retain his European heavyweight title. Dimitrenko controlled the pace of the fight early on, using his height and fighting behind his jab to keep the shorter Sprott at a distance behind his guard.
Sprott finally opened up in round 6 as he began to lead with lunging left hooks and follow up with overhand rights. Both men were content to hold when they got in close. Dimitrenko, who bounced around on his toes while bobbing and weaving, began to tire in the later rounds. In the 9th round, Sprott pulled an exhausted Dimitrenko in close before landing a right hand as Dimitrenko fell to his knees.
Dimitrenko got back on track to start the 10th, but he found himself in retreat mode as Sprott’s right hand began to find its target as the round wore on. Dimitrenko took a shot at the bell that momentarily stopped him in his tracks. In a strange moment, Sprott was docked a point to start the 11th, for the punch that landed at the end of round 10. Dimitrenko was again rocked with a counter right hand late in the 12th, but he caught a break when the fight was stopped and Sprott was docked a point for throwing Dimitrenko to the canvas.
The scorecards read 117-111, 116-111, and 119-108 in favor of Alexander Dimitrenko. The Boxing Tribune had the fight scored 116-110, in favor of Dimitrenko.
On the undercard, former WBC cruiserweight champion Juan Carlos Gomez was upset by former cruiserweight contender Darnell Wilson. Gomez never opened up on offense and allowed Wilson to throw big shots that appeared to slow Gomez down in the later rounds. After 10 rounds the scorecards read 96-94 (twice) in favor of Wilson, and 95-95.
With the loss, Gomez drops to 49-3, with 37 knockouts, while Wilson, loser of 6 straight coming in to the bout, improves to 24-12-3, with 20 knockouts.
Former Russian Olympic Gold Medalist Rakhim Chakhkiev (11-0, 9 KOs) scored a KO win over Michael Simms (21-15, 13 KOs). Chakhkiev dropped Simms once in round two before putting him away in the fourth round.
Undefeated Denis Boytsov (29-0, 24 KOs) banged away at Matt Greer (14-7, 13 KOs) for six rounds before putting him away. Boytsov dropped Greer in rounds 5 and 6 before the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
——————————–
From Sheffield, England, Gary Buckland (24-2, 8 KOs) scored a unanimous decision victory over Gary Sykes (19-2, 5 KOs) to win the British super featherweight title. Judges scored the fight 115-114, 115-113, and 116-113.
Super bantamweight Rendall Munroe scored a 10-round unanimous decision victory over Ryuta Miyagi on the undercard.
Follow us on our new Facebook Fan Page…Click “Like” to follow the source of Boxing’s True Independent Voice.
Leave a Reply