By Per Ake Persson

 

German heavyweight Aleksander Dimitrenko has today relinquished the position as mandatory challenger for EBU champ Kubrat Pulev and thus there were no purse bids today at noon in Rome.

 

Pulev will now fight the highest available contender. "The Cobra" previously knocked out Dimitrenko and then in September of last year did the same to Alexander Ustinov and things looked up and away. A final IBF eliminator was ahead but things dragged out and when Pulev finally had a co-challenger in Tyson Fury he withdrew. The fight against Fury was also a mandatory defence of the EBU title and this is where Dimitrenko entered the picture - and is now out of it.

Note: Dimitrenko has been a German citizen since many years now