Wladimir Klitschko (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships between 2000 and 2015, including unified titles between 2008 and 2015. During this time he also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) and Ring magazine titles. Klitschko is considered by some to be one of the greatest heavyweight champions ever. He was known for his exceptional knockout power, using a strong jab; straight right hand; and left hook, quick hand speed, formidable physical strength (which he often employed when clinching opponents), and his athletic footwork and mobility – unusual for boxers of his size.
As an amateur, Klitschko represented Ukraine at the 1996 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and ending his amateur run with 134 wins and 6 losses. After turning professional later that year, he defeated Chris Byrd in 2000 to win the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight title. Klitschko's first reign as champion ended in an upset knockout loss to Corrie Sanders in 2003, which was followed by another upset knockout loss to Lamon Brewster in 2004. It was during this time that Klitschko hired Emanuel Steward as his trainer, which began an eight-year partnership that lasted until Steward's death in 2012. In particular, Steward was credited with Klitschko's transition from an aggressive puncher to a more defensively-oriented boxer, much as he had done with Lennox Lewis from 1995 to 2003.
From 2004 to 2015, Wladimir and his brother Vitali Klitschko (himself a multiple-time world champion) dominated heavyweight boxing, a period typically known as the "Klitschko Era" of the division. In 2006, Wladimir regained a portion of the world heavyweight championship after defeating Byrd in a rematch to win the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and IBO titles. He won his second WBO title by defeating Sultan Ibragimov in 2008. Following his defeat of Ruslan Chagaev in 2009, Klitschko was awarded the Ring title, and lastly he won the World Boxing Association (WBA) title (Unified version, later Super version) from David Haye in 2011.
During Klitschko's reign as world heavyweight champion, his fights would reportedly generate up to 500 million viewers worldwide. Klitschko holds all-time records for the longest time spent as world heavyweight champion at 4,382 days and most fighters beaten for the world heavyweight championship, at 23. He also holds records for the most wins and title defences of the unified championship in professional boxing history. In 2011, both Wladimir and Vitali entered the Guinness World Records book as brothers with most world heavyweight title fight wins (30 at the time; 40 as of 2020). Klitschko was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame Class of 2021, having been elected in his first year of eligibility.
Klitschko was born on 25 March 1976 in Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (Semey, Kazakhstan). He is the son of Nadiia Ulianivna Klychko (née Bulyno) and Volodymyr Rodionovych Klychko (1947–2011), a Soviet Air Force major general and a military attaché of USSR in East Germany. He is the younger brother of former WBC, WBO, and Ring magazine heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, the incumbent Mayor of Kyiv. Klitschko's paternal grandmother was Jewish.
The Klitschko brothers lived as children in Czechoslovakia from 1980 to 1985, where their father was stationed with the Soviet Forces. They attended a school designated for children of Soviet soldiers in the town of Mimoň in Northern Bohemia.
The Klitschko family lived in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR from 1985 to 1986, when the town was evacuated following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The father was one of the commanders in charge of cleaning up the effects of the disaster in 1986 and was afterward diagnosed with cancer. He later served as a military attache at the embassy of Ukraine in Germany.
Both Wladimir and Vitali hold PhDs in sports science, with Wladimir's dissertation discussing how much training to give to young athletes between 14 and 19 based on the development of their bodies. As a reference to their PhDs, Wladimir is announced as "Dr. Steelhammer", a nickname similar to his brother, Vitali, who goes by "Dr. Ironfist".
Klitschko started training in amateur boxing with Brovary Olympic Reserve School in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, Klitschko was coached in Poland's Gwardia Warszawa boxing club, where, according to Jerzy Kulej, "He and his brother used to demolish our boys." In 1993, he won the Junior European Championships as a heavyweight. In 1994, he received 2nd place at the Junior World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, losing to Cuban Michel López Núñez in the finals. In 1995, he won the gold medal at the Military Championships in Ariccia, Italy, defeating Luan Krasniqi, to whom he had lost in the third round of the World Championships in Berlin, Germany earlier that year. In 1996, he captured 2nd place as a Super Heavyweight at the European Championships in Vejle, Denmark losing to Alexei Lezin on points (1–6) in the finals. He defeated Lezin later that year on points (4–1) in the semi-finals at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Klitschko had an amateur record of 134 wins (65 KO) and 6 losses. Of his six amateur losses, two were by walkover (equivalent to a no-contest in a professional context), three were by points (to Michel López, Alexei Lezin, and Luan Krasniqi, all of whom he defeated in rematches), and one was by RSCI. The latter result happened at the 14th Copenhagen Cup - Copenhagen, Denmark - November 1993, when his bout with Don Diego Poeder was stopped in the first round due to a cut.
He first achieved world attention at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He defeated Paea Wolfgramm to win the Super-Heavyweight gold medal.
Below are the notable achievements of Wladimir Klitschko in amateur boxing:
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. After building an undefeated record of 24–0 with 21 KOs, he suffered his first loss to 24–13–1 Ross Puritty, in what was Klitschko's first and only professional fight in Ukraine. Puritty forced Klitschko, who had at that time not gone beyond eight rounds, to punch himself out. Klitschko began to be overwhelmed in the tenth round and went down twice but was allowed to continue. At the start of the eleventh round, with Puritty continuing to land hard punches, Klitschko's trainer, Fritz Sdunek, entered the ring and stopped the fight. Three years later, Klitschko's brother Vitali stopped Puritty in the eleventh round himself. On 18 March 2000, Klitschko fought Paea Wolfgramm, whom he fought previously in the 1996 super-heavyweight Olympic finals. In their professional rematch, Klitschko knocked Wolfgramm out in the first round.
Klitschko vs. Byrd, Jefferson, Shufford
Wladimir Klitschko got his chance to fight for the world heavyweight championship on 14 October 2000 against WBO champion Chris Byrd. Byrd, considered one of the most avoided fighters in the heavyweight division at the time, won the title six months earlier on 1 April from Wladimir's brother Vitali (who had a perfect record of 27 fights, 27 wins, 27 KOs coming into the fight), being a late replacement for Donovan Ruddock. In that fight, Byrd was trailing on the scorecards (83–88, 83–88, & 82–89) but was declared the winner after Vitali retired on his stool between 9th and 10th rounds due to shoulder injury. Byrd's title defence against Wladimir was scheduled to take place at Kölnarena in Cologne and was billed as "Revenge Of The Brother". In a fight that was aired on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom, Wladimir won the WBO world heavyweight title from Byrd by a wide unanimous decision (UD) with scores of 120–106, 119–107, and 118–108, flooring his opponent twice.
Klitschko's first defence of the WBO title came on 24 March 2001 against Derrick Jefferson. Jefferson, regarded as a big and athletic brawler and a fan-friendly attraction, was coming into the bout with a record of 23 wins in 26 bouts, with 19 of those wins coming inside the distance (18 of them inside the first three rounds, 11 of them - in the first round). Jefferson was mostly known for the sixth-round knockout (KO) of Maurice Harris, which was named The Ring Knockout of the Year in 1999. He was 4–2 in the last six fights, losing by technical knockout (TKO) to David Izon, in a fight he was winning on the scorecards but punched himself out, and Oleg Maskaev in round four after breaking an ankle during the first knockdown in the first round.