Former world title challenger Bryant Jennings will face Alexander Dimitrenko in a battle of heavyweight contenders on Aug 18, Top Rank has announced.

The 12-round bout will be the first card to take place at the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The fight will air live on ESPN and ESPN Deportes (10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).

Jennings (23-2, 13 knockouts), who resides in nearby Philadelphia, won a 10-round unanimous decision over Joey Dawejko on Apr. 28. He has won his last four bouts since losing to Luis Ortiz by knockout in December 2015.

The 33-year-old Jennings will literally face a bigger challenge in this fight against Dimitrenko, who will have a four-inch height advantage.

“Dimitrenko is a big, competitive fighter,” said Jennings in a release. “I worked very hard to gain my position in the heavyweight division. Every fight for me is a risk. While I’m confident in myself, I don’t take any opponent lightly. Boxing fans can expect me to bring the best.”

Jennings is currently ranked No. 8 by the WBO.

Dimitrenko (41-3, 26 KOs) is originally from Russia and now resides in Hamburg, Germany. In December, he won by DQ over Miljan Rovcanin in a bout that was originally ruled a draw. A scoring discrepancy in tabulating point deductions led to the original result being overturned.

The 35-year-old Dimitrenko, who is ranked No. 8 by the IBF, has won his last three fights since losing by knockout to former heavyweight titleholder Joseph Parker in October 2016.

In the opening televised bout, super middleweight contender Jesse Hart, who also resides in Philadelphia, squares off against Mike Gavronski in a 10-round bout.

Hart (24-1, 20 KOs) has won his last two bouts since dropping a close 12-round unanimous decision to WBO titleholder Gilberto Ramirez.

The 29-year-old Hart is currently the mandatory challenger for the WBO title and is ranked No. 3 by the WBC.

Gavronski (24-2-1 1 NC, 15 KOs) has had most of his fights in and around his hometown of Tacoma, Washington. He originally won an eight-round technical decision over Andrew Hernandez in November, but the result was changed to a no-contest.

Gavronski’s only defeats came at the hands of Tureano Johnson and gatekeeper Dashon Johnson.

ESPN+ will air the undercard action of the Top Rank card, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT.

Former world title challenger Jason Sosa (20-3-4, 15 KOs) will face Reynaldo Blanco (14-4, 8 KOs) over eight rounds. Sosa’s last two bouts were defeats to Vasiliy Lomachenko and Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Featherweight prospect Shakur Stevenson (7-0, 4 KOs) will square off against former junior lightweight contender Carlos Ruiz (16-4-2, 6 KOs) of Mexico City in an eight-round bout.

Unbeaten bantamweight Christian Carto (15-0, 11 KOs), who has a significant following in the Philadelphia area, will face veteran Javier Gallo (25-15-1, 13 KOs) in an eight-round bout.

Welterweight Thomas Lamanna (25-2-1, 9 KOs) of nearby Millville squares off against Matthew Strode (25-6, 9 KOs) in an eight-round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing

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