109 Facts About Vladimir Klitschko

Wladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017.

Vladimir Klitschko held the world heavyweight championship twice, including the unified WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and Ring magazine titles.

Vladimir Klitschko was known for his exceptional knockout power, using a strong jab, straight right hand and left hook, quick hand speed, as well as great footwork and mobility, unusual for boxers of his size.

From 2004 to 2015, Wladimir and his brother Vitali Vladimir Klitschko dominated heavyweight boxing, a period typically known as the "Vladimir Klitschko Era" of the division.

Vladimir Klitschko won his second WBO title by defeating Sultan Ibragimov in 2008.

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In September 2015, Vladimir Klitschko was ranked as the world's best active boxer, pound for pound, by BoxRec; in November 2014, he reached a career peak of second best on The Rings pound for pound list.

Vladimir Klitschko holds records for the longest cumulative heavyweight title reign of all time, with 4,382 days as world heavyweight champion, and most fighters beaten for the world heavyweight championship, at 23.

Vladimir Klitschko holds records for the most wins and title defenses of the unified championship in professional boxing history.

Vladimir Klitschko was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame Class of 2021, having been elected in his first year of eligibility.

Vladimir Klitschko was born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union.

Vladimir Klitschko is the son of Nadezhda Ulyanovna and Vladimir Rodionovich Klitschko, a Soviet Air Force major general and a military attache of USSR in East Germany.

Vladimir Klitschko's father was one of the commanders in charge of cleaning up the effects of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and was afterward diagnosed with cancer.

The Vladimir Klitschko brothers lived as children in Czechoslovakia from 1980 to 1985, where their father was stationed with the Soviet occupation forces.

Vladimir Klitschko started training in amateur boxing with Brovary Olympic Reserve School in the late 1980s.

Vladimir Klitschko defeated Lezin later that year in the semi finals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Vladimir Klitschko first achieved world attention at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

Vladimir Klitschko defeated Paea Wolfgramm to win the Super-Heavyweight gold medal.

Vladimir Klitschko turned professional with Universum Box-Promotion in Hamburg under the tutelage of Fritz Sdunek, often being featured on fight cards alongside his elder brother Vitali.

Puritty forced Vladimir Klitschko, who had at that time not gone beyond eight rounds, to punch himself out.

Vladimir Klitschko began to be overwhelmed in the tenth round and went down twice but was allowed to continue.

On 18 March 2000, Vladimir Klitschko fought Paea Wolfgramm, whom he fought previously in the 1996 super-heavyweight Olympic finals.

Wladimir Vladimir Klitschko got his chance to fight for the world heavyweight championship on 14 October 2000 against WBO champion Chris Byrd.

Vladimir Klitschko knocked him down twice more in round two, once with a straight right hand and again with another left hook, with the fight being stopped after the last knockdown, declaring Vladimir Klitschko the winner by TKO in the second round.

Vladimir Klitschko knocked Shufford down three times, once in round two, once in round three and in round six with a left hook, with referee stopping the bout after the third knockdown.

Vladimir Klitschko returned to Germany for the next defence of his WBO title against Francois Botha.

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Vladimir Klitschko had his next title defence scheduled three months later, on 29 June 2002 at Etess Arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey, against former WBO heavyweight champion Ray Mercer.

Vladimir Klitschko dominated Mercer throughout the entire bout, stopping Mercer in the sixth round.

At 2:48 of the first round, Vladimir Klitschko dropped Mercer with a left hook, becoming only the second man to drop Mercer.

Vladimir Klitschko became the first fighter to defeat Mercer inside the distance.

Vladimir Klitschko returned to Mandalay Bay Event Center for his sixth defence on 7 December 2002 against Jameel McCline.

CompuBox stats showed that Vladimir Klitschko landed 181 of his 433 punches thrown, and McCline landed 61 of 307.

Vladimir Klitschko later admitted that he came to the fight unmotivated and was already thinking about the vacation he was going to enjoy after the fight.

The following round, Sanders continued his assault on a visibly hurt Vladimir Klitschko, dropping him twice more at the beginning of the round.

Vladimir Klitschko dominated Brewster through the course of the first four rounds, sending him to the canvas in the fourth; however, things turned around in the fifth when Vladimir Klitschko began tiring and Brewster's punches began backing him up.

On unsteady legs, Vladimir Klitschko fell to the canvas after the bell and the referee stopped the fight for his safety.

Judd Bernstein, the lawyer representing Vladimir Klitschko, suggested that he was a victim of an ongoing fight fixing in Las Vegas, which was investigated by FBI at the time.

Vladimir Klitschko hurt Klitschko again in the fifth with another left hook, sending Klitschko to the canvas with the rabbit punch.

Vladimir Klitschko regained composure and outboxed Peter through sixth to ninth rounds, with Peter frequently trying to hit Vladimir Klitschko with the rabbit punch whenever escaping from a clinch.

On 22 April 2006, in Mannheim, Germany, Vladimir Klitschko faced Chris Byrd for a second time, this time for the IBF heavyweight title.

Vladimir Klitschko defeated Byrd by TKO in the seventh round, becoming a two-time heavyweight world champion in the process.

Vladimir Klitschko dominated the fight using his jab and superior reach, knocking Byrd down twice, once in round five and once in round seven.

Vladimir Klitschko has a good jab, but they said Timur's best weapon was his jab.

Vladimir Klitschko started fighting more aggressively, hurting Brock several times with the right cross.

Vladimir Klitschko then faced mandatory challenger Ray Austin on 10 March 2007, at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany.

Vladimir Klitschko won by a second-round KO with four consecutive left hooks to Austin's head.

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Vladimir Klitschko then avenged one of his previous losses as he defeated Lamon Brewster on 7 July 2007, in Cologne, Germany.

Out of six journalists of the Ukrainian magazine Ring, five predicted Vladimir Klitschko to stop Ibragimov, with only one expecting Vladimir Klitschko to win by decision.

The day before the bout, Vladimir Klitschko weighed in at 238 pounds, the lightest since 1999, while Ibragimov's weight was 219 pounds, his lightest since 2005.

Vladimir Klitschko retreated onto the outside, fighting at a distance and remaining unattainable for Ibragimov who tried to establish his right jab but had his right hand constantly pushed down by Vladimir Klitschko.

Vladimir Klitschko's dominance became even more visible after he caught Ibragimov with a straight right in round nine, almost knocking him down.

Vladimir Klitschko caught Ibragimov again with a counter left hook at the end of the eleventh.

Vladimir Klitschko donated $500,000 of his earnings to the Bronx's Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

Boxing journalist Phil Santos pointed out that Vladimir Klitschko fought for the majority of the fight "only with his left hand", proving that he "is the best heavyweight in the world right now".

There's no denying that once Vladimir Klitschko collects all the belts, he will go down as one of the all-time greats.

Many observes predicted Thompson to be a tough challenge for Vladimir Klitschko, expecting Vladimir Klitschko to ultimately win by TKO in the second half of the fight before the fighters would enter the championship rounds.

Opening rounds were tentative, with Vladimir Klitschko seemingly struggling with Thompson's awkward southpaw style.

Vladimir Klitschko's eye began to swell after Thompson caught him with the right hook in the fifth round.

Vladimir Klitschko was scheduled to defend his titles against Alexander Povetkin later in 2008, but on 25 October, Povetkin withdrew from the fight due to an ankle injury.

Vladimir Klitschko dominated the fight, winning every round while making good use of his left jab.

Vladimir Klitschko was scheduled to face David Haye on 20 June 2009, but Haye pulled out within weeks of the fight complaining of a back injury.

Ultimately, Vladimir Klitschko reached agreements with Chagaev who agreed to step in for Haye as a last-minute replacement.

Vladimir Klitschko dominated the fight, keeping Chagaev at the end of his jab and throwing straight right hand whenever necessary.

Vladimir Klitschko dropped Chagaev near the end of the second round, and was gradually fighting more aggressively as the fight progressed.

In between the championship rounds, Vladimir Klitschko was criticized by his trainer Emmanuel Steward for not fighting aggressively, despite comfortably winning on the scorecards.

Vladimir Klitschko picked up his pace during the final round and, with few seconds left, landed a left hook on Chambers' temple.

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Vladimir Klitschko faced Peter for the second time, as they had fought in 2005 previously.

The contract was written so that if Vladimir Klitschko was not fully healed, then Haye would fight his brother, Vitali.

Vladimir Klitschko fought Haye in a heavyweight unification fight for the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and Ring magazine heavyweight titles.

On 5 December 2011, the fight was cancelled because Vladimir Klitschko checked into a hospital to have a kidney stone removed.

CompuBox showed that in the 10 minutes and 12 seconds the fight lased, Vladimir Klitschko landed 39 of 135 punches thrown and Mormeck landed just 3 of 19 thrown.

On 4 March 2012, Vladimir Klitschko stated that he would next fight his mandatory challenger Tony Thompson, who had been ranked as the world's eighth best heavyweight by BoxRec at the conclusion of the previous year, in a rematch from their first fight in 2008.

Vladimir Klitschko became more dominant in the second, working mostly with his jab.

Vladimir Klitschko continued his assault in the sixth, sending Thompson down again with a flurry of shots.

CompuBox stats showed Vladimir Klitschko landed 51 of 121 total punches thrown and Thompson landed only 25 of 183 thrown.

Vladimir Klitschko revealed he would train with Johnathon Banks due to Steward recovering from a bowel operation.

On fight night, at the 02 World Arena, Vladimir Klitschko dominated and retained his titles with a one sided UD.

The bout opened with a battle between jabs which was won by Vladimir Klitschko, who was following his jabs with his signature straight right.

Wach showed a great chin later in the fight when Vladimir Klitschko began to let his hands go more landing thunderous shots.

The reason the fight would never get made was due to the fact that the Vladimir Klitschko's had a contract with German television network RTL and Huck was signed with their rival network ARD.

On 5 March 2013, K2 Promotions announced that Vladimir Klitschko would fight another undefeated contender, Italian Francesco Pianeta, on 4 May at SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany.

Vladimir Klitschko went on to say he won his biggest fight against cancer in 2009.

Vladimir Klitschko dropped Pianeta with a right hand in round four, a left hand put Pianeta down in the fifth; the fight ended at 2:52 in round six when Klitschko put Pianeta down for the third time.

The bout was marred with over 160 clinches, most initiated by Vladimir Klitschko, followed by several repeated roughhouse tactics throughout the match.

Vladimir Klitschko won by UD, scoring a knockdown in round two from a quick left hook, and three knockdowns in round seven, including one prompted from a straight right hand.

Vladimir Klitschko landed 139 of 417 punches and Povetkin connected on 59 of 283.

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On fight night, Vladimir Klitschko knocked Leapai down three times, and referee Eddie Cotton stopped the fight with 55 seconds remaining in the fifth round.

Vladimir Klitschko was scheduled to take on undefeated heavyweight contender Tyson Fury, the WBO mandatory challenger, on 24 October 2015.

Vladimir Klitschko reportedly had his hands wrapped without a representative of Fury present, so had to do them again.

Vladimir Klitschko was entitled to a rematch with Fury as part of the contract for their first fight.

Vladimir Klitschko apologised to his fans and confirmed the fight would be rescheduled for a later date.

On 24 October, Vladimir Klitschko suffered a minor calf injury which would rule him out until 2017.

Vladimir Klitschko put a request in for 5,000 more tickets to be made available.

At the weigh in, Vladimir Klitschko weighed in at 240 and a quarter pounds, the lightest he has weighed since 2009.

An angry Vladimir Klitschko rose up and dominated Joshua for the remainder of the round, before landing a clean right hand and scoring his own knockdown in round six.

Vladimir Klitschko again rose but Joshua knocked him down for a second time in the round by unleashing a seven-punch combination, flooring Vladimir Klitschko with a left hook.

Vladimir Klitschko said he needed time to review his situation before agreeing to a rematch.

On 3 August 2017, Vladimir Klitschko announced on his official website and social media channels that he was retiring from boxing.

Vladimir Klitschko ended his professional career with 64 wins in 69 fights, 53 by knockout.

Vladimir Klitschko was unranked by Forbes in 2016, despite the fact that he reportedly earned $22.

In 2008, the Vladimir Klitschko brothers were ranked number 15 in Inter's list of the 100 Greatest Ukrainians following a nation-wide poll that saw around 2.

Vladimir Klitschko fought in 29 world heavyweight title fights, more than any other boxer in history.

In 2021, Vladimir Klitschko was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, having been elected over Miguel Cotto and James Toney by a panel of around 200 international boxing historians.

Vladimir Klitschko is a passionate golfer and was seen playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

Vladimir Klitschko was named curator of the Ukrainian pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale.

From 2009, Vladimir Klitschko was in a relationship with American actress Hayden Panettiere.

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Panettiere has appeared ringside at some of Vladimir Klitschko's fights, including at Vladimir Klitschko's 10th-round KO victory over Samuel Peter.

Vladimir Klitschko was friends with the late German heavyweight legend Max Schmeling.

On 29 March 2012, during a charitable auction in Kyiv, Ukraine, Vladimir Klitschko auctioned off his 1996 Olympic gold medal to a buyer who bid $1 million.

Vladimir Klitschko said he would use the money to help the dreams of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children.