Vladimir Klitschko
Date of Birth: 25.03.1976
Place of Birth. Education. 'Doctor Steel Hammer' (as he is called in the world of professional boxing) was born in the town of Sолнечное near Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). His father - Vladimir Rodionovich - was a colonel in aviation. His mother - Nadezhda Ulyanovna - was a civil servant. Due to his father's profession, Vladimir and his older brother Vitali Klitschko traveled around most of the Soviet Union. In 1985, they moved to Ukraine. In 1992, he graduated from the Brovary Olympic Reserve College. In 1996, he graduated from the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky Pedagogical Institute. He holds a PhD in physical education and sports.
Amateur Career. Vladimir began boxing at the age of 13. In a short time, he achieved significant success: by the age of 17, he won the title of European champion among juniors, five times became the champion of Ukraine, in 1995 in Italy won a gold medal at the I World Military Games, and in 1996 became the silver medalist of the European Championship. His greatest achievement in amateur boxing is the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996). This victory was awarded in his homeland with the Order of 'Courage'.
Professional Career. However, the world truly got to know Klitschko Jr. after his transition to professional boxing. Thanks to Vladimir's victory at the 96 Olympics, the Klitschko brothers received numerous invitations from various boxing clubs, including from American Don King. However, weighing all the 'pros' and 'cons', they preferred the German club 'UNIVERSUM BOX-PROMOTION', with which they signed a contract in the autumn of 1996. For several years, the brothers were trained by German Fritz Sdunek. Later, they were trained by champion Emanuel Steward, who had previously worked with the mega-star British Lennox Lewis.
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Vladimir Klitschko works with the promotional company 'K2 Promotions', opened together with his brother.
Among the highest titles won by Vladimir in the professional ring in heavyweight:
- Intercontinental champion according to WBC (1998, 2000),
- Intercontinental champion according to WBA (1999-2000, 2003),
- European champion (1999),
- World champion according to WBO (2000-2003),
- Champion according to NABF (2005-2006),
- World champion according to IBF/IBO (since April 2006).
He had to win and defend the most prestigious titles in the boxing world against such notable and powerful fighters as Chris Byrd, Charles Shufford, Ray Mercer, Jameel McCline. The champion's career was also marked by unfortunate defeats. Notably, he lost to Corrie Sanders in March 2003 in Hanover, Germany, and then suffered defeat from Lamon Brewster in April 2004 in Las Vegas, USA. After these heavy defeats, skeptics decided that Vladimir's successful sports career had come to an end. However, in the last year and a half, V. Klitschko rehabilitated his name in the eyes of a significant part of experts and the general public with victories over Chris Byrd, Samuel Peter, Kelvin Brock, and Ray Austin.
In February 2007, shortly before the fight with R. Austin, the latter's promoter Don King boasted: 'We will knock his heart out, and after Ray's punches, his chin will fly to Ukraine. We will trample him and mix him with dirt.' Unfortunately, King's ward failed to meet his boss's expectations; it was not Vladimir who was trampled.
He fought 59 professional bouts: 56 wins (49 by knockout), 3 losses.
On February 23, 2008, in New York at the already familiar arena 'Madison Square Garden', Vladimir fought a significant match in his career - for the title of absolute world champion. His opponent was the WBO champion, Russian Sultan Ibragimov (12 cm shorter, 9 kg lighter, but quite technical and, as it was believed, inconvenient - a southpaw).
After 12 rounds, the winner from the ring and holder of three championship belts (according to WBO, IBF, and IBO) was V. Klitschko. The last similar unification super-fight took place almost 10 years ago.
Despite the opinion shared by many boxing fans, Ibragimov's manager Boris Grinberg disagreed shortly before the fight, asserting that Vladimir Klitschko's main weakness was his 'crystal' chin. 'No, I disagree,' he stated. 'Vladimir clearly demonstrated this in the fight against Peter when he faced a knockdown three times and ultimately won.'
On December 13, 2008, he defended his titles in a match against American Hasim Rahman. The fight took place in Mannheim, Germany. In the sixth round, the American was knocked down after a powerful punch from Klitschko, but he continued the match. However, in the seventh round, the referee stopped the fight, which had turned into a beating of Rahman.
On June 20, 2009, Vladimir Klitschko again defended his titles in a match against 'vacation champion' according to WBA, Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan. The bout took place in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) at the 60,000-seat 'Veltins Arena'. The Ukrainian won by technical knockout in the ninth round, marking R. Chagaev's first loss in the professional ring.
On March 20, 2010, Vladimir Klitschko defended his titles in a fight against American Eddie Chambers. The match took place in Dusseldorf (Germany) at the 51,000-seat 'Esprit Arena'. The bout was fought under full domination from the Ukrainian, and 12 seconds before the end of the last round, Klitschko knocked Chambers out with a left hook.
On September 11, 2010, Vladimir Klitschko defended his titles in a match against Nigerian Samuel Peter, nicknamed 'The Nigerian Nightmare'. The fight took place in Frankfurt am Main at the 'Commerzbank Arena' stadium. The Ukrainian heavyweight dominated throughout the match. In the tenth round, Klitschko's prolonged assault on his opponent produced the desired result. After a series of punches, Peter ended up knocked out.
In December 2010, Vladimir Klitschko was supposed to face British Derek Chisora, but two days before the fight, the Ukrainian suffered an injury during training, and the bout was postponed to April 30, 2011.
In July 2012 there was a second fight between Vladimir Klitschko and the mandatory challenger for the IBF, Tony Thompson. Klitschko knocked Thompson out in the 6th round.
In November 2012 Vladimir faced the undefeated Polish boxer, Mariusz Wach. The fight was very tough, but despite the absence of knockdowns, the victory was awarded to Vladimir.
In April 2015, Vladimir Klitschko, the world champion according to IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO, and 'The Ring Magazine', won a victory in a tough fight against American Bryant Jennings (Vladimir's 64th bout in professional boxing) and defended his belts.
On November 28, 2015, in Dusseldorf, as a result of the fight against the Briton Tyson Fury, he lost the match by unanimous decision of the judges and lost all his belts. Judge's scorecards: 115-112, 115-112, 116-111.
On April 29, 2017, he lost the championship fight against 27-year-old champion IBF, British Anthony Joshua, losing the vacant titles WBA and IBO.
On August 3, 2017, Vladimir Klitschko announced his retirement from sports.
Hobbies. Among the champion's interests are art, foreign languages, music, new technologies. Despite being able to afford the most exotic travels, his favorite vacation spot is Trukhaniv Island in Kyiv.
Vladimir Klitschko plays percussion instruments at an amateur level. He skis and snowboards, engages in kitesurfing and wakeboarding.
Vladimir Klitschko appeared in the Hollywood movie 'Ocean's Eleven'. The director of the film was 'Oscar-winning' Steven Soderbergh. According to the film's script, Vladimir was supposed to play himself, putting up a fight for the championship title against Lennox Lewis. Together with his brother, he is the co-author of a bestseller about a healthy lifestyle called 'Our Fitness'. By the way, Vladimir considers his brother Vitali, also a world-renowned boxing champion, his closest friend.
Together with his brother, he spends a lot of money on charity.
Personal Life. His first wife was Aleksandra Alidjanovna Avizova (born 1975), a model from Kyiv.
From 2011 to 2018, he was in a relationship with American actress Hayden Panettiere, and on December 9, 2014, they welcomed their daughter, Kaya Evdokia. In August 2018, it became known that the couple had parted ways but remained friends.
March 24, 2022.