By Yuri Tarantin (Allboxing.ru) and Alexey Sukachev

Alexander Dimitrenko (30-1, 23 KOs), 28, is once again on his way up. The Ukrainian heavyweight recovered well from his one-sided loss to Eddie Chambers in July 2009, regrouped, stopped fellow countryman Yaroslav Zavorotnyy to become the new European champion a year since and is now ready ranked in top-15 by all four major sanctioning bodies (WBA #7, WBA #8, IBF #12 and WBC #14).

Next for Dimitrenko is yet another tough challenge. Polish Albert Sosnowski (46-3-1, 28 KOs), who is coming off a spirited but hard defeat from WBC master Vitali Klitschko, will try to acquire Alexander’s belt in a heated match-up, which will be promoted by Universum Box-Promotion. An exact date and a venue of the future contest remains unclear but Dimitrenko feels positive about the upcoming test. He has spoken to Allboxing’s Yuri Tarantin to reveal his thoughts about several intriguing fights and to share memories of his heralded past.

Yuri: Alexander, your German promoter has recently won a purse bid to determine parties which will handle you fight with Sosnowski. Is anything clear with a possible date and place of the contest?

Alexander: I don’t know this for sure. As we are speaking (this talk was performed at the end of the last week), I haven’t been yet contacted by my managers so I have got this news from the press. But I think that everything will be settled down in the coming days.

Yuri: Have you missed boxing after your recent fight?

Alexander: Yeah, for sure. I wish to come back to fighting practice and to defend my Euro belt, which I have won in July.

Yuri: What can you tell us about your future opponent?

Alexander: I don’t want to make any statements and predictions, not to do any trash-talking. I’ll just say that I’m taking this contest very seriously. Vitali Klitschko needed ten rounds to finally resolve this big problem and to knock Sosnowski out. Nevertheless, I’ll try to win as convincing as I can and I’ll try to make a statement in the ring.

Yuri: So, underestimation is not an option, is it?

Alexander: No, underestimation is not an option. I will never underestimate my Polish opponent. I treat each coming fight as the last one, so I’ll do my best to win it; I’ll input a hundred 100% of myself into both the preparation and the contest itself. Eddie Chambers fight was a painful but useful lesson that taught me a number of things about boxing. I changed a lot of things in my preparation.

Yuri: Is knockout a goal for this fight? Will you try to knock him out?

Alexander: The fight will show it. I’ll battle against Albert – that’s for sure. Both of us has nothing to lose, so I’m ensured that will be helluva fight and we shall get it on till the bitter end.

Yuri: Alexander, you were born in Ukraine but you met your major amateur success competing for the Russian national team. What was the reason for such a turnaround?

Alexander: It’s necessary to start from my youth. I had been boxing for the Ukrainian Juniors; then I became a part of the Youth team. I won several qualifying tournaments and I should have been a vital part of Ukrainian national team during European Youth Championship (Croatia 1998). Unfortunately, I was taken out of the roster and replaced by another boxer.

Yuri: Why so?

Alexander: This is a common story. That boxer was from the same city our head coach had come out. So he had just helped his fellow-townsman.

Yuri: So, what was your reaction?

Alexander: So, I bit the bullet, packed my things and went to Moscow for a better life.

Yuri: Was it that simple? Had you known anybody in the Russian capital?

Alexander: Not exactly. My first coach Pavel Ivanovich Krivenko, who – I just can’t get it – hasn’t been even honored yet in Ukraine, gave me a phone number of his former pupil Marc Ionovich Meltzer. That man has sheltered me.

Yuri: Are you speaking seriously?

Alexander: Absolutely. I can’t stop thanking Marc Meltzer for his help and for his hospitality. He helped me very much in my life.

Yuri: Are you still in connection with him?

Alexander: Surely. By the way, I became Russian Junior champion in kick boxing under his guidance.

Yuri: So, what was next for you? Was it harder to get into the Russian national team than into Ukrainian?

Alexander: Absolutely. I mean there were at least two-three times more competitors in elimination tournaments in Russia than in Ukraine. So I had to work extremely hard to become a vital part of the team. But I had a goal ahead of me, so I just followed my path to it, and that path proved to be right.

Yuri: Tell us a bit about your accomplishments?

Alexander: I took the second place in Russian junior nationals in 2000 losing in the final to a very strong opponent. I avenged my loss to him during a qualifier for the World Junior Championship in Hungary the same year. I was chosen to be #1 in my weight class around Russia and I was selected to represent Russia in Hungary. Ironically, my first opponent there was a guy from Ukraine. I engaged into a hard brawl but stopped him in the very first round. Actually, all my four wins there were by stoppages. I just didn’t want to lose my first place so I put some extra effort in my fights (smiles). In 2001 I became a member of Russian Senior team, won the Russian Cup and soon thereafter I decided to turn pro.

Yuri: I heard you became very good friends with fellow teammate Denis Lebedev, who is rapidly turning into a cruiserweight terror right now.

Alexander: I was boxing for the legendary CSKA sportive community (CSKA is the Central Sportive Club of Army – one of Russia’s top sportive clubs in different sports). During that time I shared the same room with Denis so we lived together. Moreover, we had almost no personal belongings – they were all common. People can be brothers-in-blood, and we were the brothers in common life.

Yuri: Denis is fighting WBO champion Marco Huck on Dec. 18. What are your thoughts about this fight?

Alexander: I will vehemently root for Denis, and I wish him the best luck against Huck. You know, he is a very fragrant guy and he is an extremely determined boxer and I had plenty of opportunities in my amateur days to get it. Where someone could easily give up, Denis continued to march forward and to overcome bad circumstances. He is that tough. I think he will do just the same against Huck. He will overcome this guy.

Yuri: Tell us your predictions on Klitschko vs. Chisora and Haye vs. Harrison.

Alexander: Do you expect me to make a bit of stir and to favor Chisora against Wladimir? (Laughs). That’s silly. The disparity between two of them is so clear that there is no need in any predictions. I sparred with Derek Chisora a year ago, so I can tell you it will be as one-sided as it can ever be. What are we talking about?! Even Wladimir himself is travelling around Ukraine, taking part in Vitali’s election campaign instead of diligent training in the gym. He doesn’t take Chisora seriously and he has every right not to.

As for Haye vs. Harrison, David is a clear pre-fight favorite. But I think that Audley is a unique boxer, who has ability to surprise his opponents in bad way. I remember he was very hard to get into Sydney Olympics and so what? He just went through all his opponents to become an Olympic champion. Another example was given merely a half a year ago in Sprott fight, when he was losing the entire contest badly only to fire a monstrous punch that sent his opponent down and out instantly. So, I cannot be so sure about the outcome of the upcoming fight. Anything can happen there.

Yuri: Thanks for your time!

Alexander: You’re welcome.