You wanted to see Joseph Parker take on a challenge in his next fight? Well, Alexander Dimitrenko is going to be a challenge… of sorts. Over two metres tall with long arms and a solid professional record, the 34 year old Ukrainian/German and Joe Parker will square up on October 1 at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau.

This is cool, this is probably a better fight than we had reason to expect. With the much anticipated title bout against Anthony Joshua due probably in January 2017, it was likely that Parker would take a couple fights in between beating Carlos Takam and that one. The first was a comprehensive enough knockout of Solomon Haumono and the second, this is it.

In preparation for Joshua, Parker’s team have lined up a guy who shares some similar qualities with that impending foe. He’s considerably older than AJ but he’s also three centimetres taller – both men having a decent advantage there over the 1.93m Parker. It’s something that Joe definitely needs, given that he hasn’t fought a taller man since dropping Daniel Martz in December 2015. And, to be honest, that dude wasn’t much more than a battler. As well as that, Dimitrenko has a massive 2.11m reach which is also slightly beyond Joshua’s own intimidating reach (2.08m). Dimitrenko has none of the raw power that Joshua lives upon but physically he’s of a calibre that will be new to JP at this level.

For the most part Dimitrenko has been fighting out of his adopted home of Germany and he has been victorious in his last six bouts, granted hardly against any heavyweight contenders. His two professional losses came to Kubrat Pulev in 2012 and Eddie Chambers in 2009.

Pulev is an interesting name because he’s a fella being linked with a fight against Joshua as well. Eddie Hearn recently named him on a three-man shortlist for Anthony Joshua’s next bout, along with Joseph Parker and Bermane Stiverne. The latter is the most likely, especially with this fight suggesting that Parker is ready to wait until 2017 before getting the Joshua call. Stiverne is a solid fighter who has only two pro losses to his name, the second coming last year when he took Deontay Wilder the distance for the unanimous defeat. That, by the way, being the only time in Wilder’s 37 fights (to date) that didn’t end in a knockout victory. Joshua has won every fight by knockout himself and that’d be a tasty option for him, looking to prove he has more to him than just his power. Wilder, meanwhile, defended his WBC belt for the fourth time the week before Parker-Haumono. He beat Chris Arreola thanks to an eight round retirement with Wilder thoroughly dominating. However the American champ managed to break his hand and tear a bicep in the fight and won’t box again in 2016, apparently.

As for Pulev, the Bulgarian’s only defeat came via knockout against Wladimir Klitschko in 2014, fighting for the IBF belt that Anthony Joshua currently holds. At 35, he’s looking to get another shot at that thing and he stands pretty similar in height compared to Joseph Parker. Interesting if Joshua and Parker each take bouts with that in mind, aye? As far as Pulev’s promoter is concerned, he’ll get the Joshua fight whether he has to wait until next year or not – he’s currently the second ranked challenger behind Parker in the IBF standings. Stiverne is already in training ahead of his prospective tilt at Joshua.

Dimitrenko can hit but not like Joshua, so it’s unlikely Parker will be too worried in that regard. For example, Dimi took down Michael Sprott by unanimous decision in 2011 while Anthony Joshua had him on the canvas in the first round for the TKO. Yeah, that tells a tale. Those are their only common opponents and Parker doesn’t share any with either. Dimitrenko didn’t fight at all in 2014 and only once in 2013 but has been busy since 2015, admittedly against weaker Europeans. Still, he’s a former European heavyweight champion and the naturalised German citizen may not be a legitimate title chaser these days but he’s positioned nicely as the kind of fighter the top prospects will want to test themselves against on their way up. Dimi is tall, he’s durable and he will fight to those strengths.

One thing, it would have been nice to maybe see Parker take a fight overseas given that up against Joshua he’s going to find himself at the mercy of a very passionate crowd all cheering for AJ, who is a big time favourite in the UK. With Parker’s camp controlling this one, it was never likely they’d surrender the home-court but if they’re truly preparing for that AJ fight then this is a factor. Parker has never fought as a genuine drawcard where he hasn’t been the crowd favourite, the fans all cheering on as he landed his combinations. That won’t be the case in London vs Joshua.

Dimitrenko is a good fighter. He has a solid jab and fights busily on his toes. Dimi’s problem is that he was well-beaten in his two biggest fights and has thus spent most of his career fighting average fighters and padding his record. Against Pulev he looked to get his left jab going straight away against a patient opponent but he didn’t really have anything else to go with it and against a guy of that ability he was far too slow to guard himself when Pulev countered.

Parker might not be able to hurt him in the same way as Pulev, his power is probably a bit overrated, but he’s very quick and he’ll throw a few stingers. There’s the chance that this could go the full allotment of rounds as Dimitrenko is a man that can cop a heavy hit. He’s also a guy that can be out-boxed though, so Parker ought to win this one comfortably, whether he’s able to stop him or whether it takes a clean decision. Still, it’ll be an interesting test of his defence against the taller blokes – especially after taking a few hits vs Haumono.

More important than anything is that he needs to get that experience of scrapping as the shorter man given that Parker is gonna find himself with that deficiency against most of the top heavyweights in the world. Dimitrenko is not a better fighter than Carlos Takam but he could certainly take Solomon Haumono. This is a good fight, the kind of fight that Parker needs and one that he can learn plenty from.