Last Saturday, November 17th, the 25-years-old Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko won over the 33-years-old German Timo Hoffmann in the heavyweight fight for the WBO Intercontinental-Championship by technical knockout. For the first time in his 10 year career heavyweight Hoffmann had to accept a defeat before the closing bell had sounded. After he went down already twice in the fourth round and after Dimitrenko pushed him down three times in the twelve and last round again Belgian referee Andre van Grootenbruel abandoned the fight 26 seconds before the end.



In front of 3,700 spectators the German didn’t surrender without defense. The Ukrainian as well went down unexpectedly once in the fifth round for the second time in his career. In the first round Hoffmann seemed to be the more active with his left-right-combinations but he had barely a chance against the top favorite. Even so everybody was surprised about his staying power. Not without a reason they call him the "German Oak" He owns an excellent taking ability and didn’t make it easy for his opponent throughout night.

When Dimitrenko pushed down Hoffmann in the fourth round the referee counted it as a point for the Ukrainian even though there was no effective punch identifiable. "This was definitive not an effective punch, he didn’t hit me in this situation", complained Hoffmann afterwards. Later Grootenbruel declared to fine Dimitrenko, when he pushed Hoffmann down once again. In the ninth round the challenger from Germany pulled himself together and achieved some good action for him. In the following round he had to take several hard punches from his opponent again.

He fought until he went down but could not keep up until the end of the last round. Himself deplored his loss and thanked at the same time the spectators who stood behind him the whole fight: “What a pity that the fight had to end just so short before the finish. The audience was like a second strength for me. Also Hoffmann‘s Coach Uwe Schuster was upset: “What a pity the referee didn’t begrudged him a normal end. He didn’t deserve that after the stupendous achievement he adducted."

There was also some criticism going to Dimitrenko‘s style. Uwe Schuster complained: "Dimitrenko often hit very low and kept pushing him down. He was supposed to contain a warning earlier“. Even Dimitrenko‘s Coach gave a comment to this topic: "Sascha pushed Timo down more than once. He has to give up that habit, it could lead to a disqualification".

For Hoffmann it was the 43rd fight with the Sauerland Event GmbH which he has a contract with until the end of this year. So far his biggest victories have been: Heavyweight German Champion in 1999, International Heavyweight German Champion in 2002, European IBF-Professional of the year 2002, IBF-Intercontinental Champion 2002 and WBO Intercontinental Champion.