Place of Birth. Education. "Doctor Steel Hammer" (as he is called in the world of professional boxing) was born in the village of Solnechnoye near Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan). Father - Vladimir Rodionovich - Colonel of Aviation. Mother - Nadezhda Ulyanovna - an employee. Together with their parents, by virtue of their father's profession, Vladimir and his older brother Vitali Klitschko traveled most of the Soviet Union. In 1985 they moved to Ukraine. In 1992 he graduated from the Brovarsky Olympic Reserve School. In 1996 - Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky Pedagogical Institute. PhD in Physical Education and Sports.
Amateur career. Vladimir started boxing at the age of 13. In a short time he achieved significant success: already at the age of 17 he won the title of European champion among juniors, became the champion of Ukraine five times, in 1995 in Italy he received a gold medal at the I World Military Games, and in 1996 he became a silver medalist of the European Championship. The greatest achievement of V. Klitschko in the amateur ring is the gold medal of the Olympic Games in Atlanta (1996). This victory at home was awarded the Order "For Courage".
Career. However, the world really learned about Klitschko Jr. after his transition to professional boxing. Thanks to Wladimir's victory at the 1996 Olympics, the Klitschko brothers received many invitations to various boxing clubs, including from the American Don King. However, after weighing all the pros and cons, they preferred the German club UNIVERSUM BOX-PROMOTION, with which they signed a contract in the fall of 1996. For a number of years, the brothers were trained by the German Fritz Sdunek. Then he coached the champion Emanuel Steward, who previously worked with the mega-star Englishman Lennox Lewis.
Wladimir Klitschko works with the promotional company "K2 Promotions", which is open with his brother.
Among the highest heavyweight titles won by Vladimir in the professional ring:
- WBC Intercontinental Champion (1998, 2000);
- Intercontinental WBA champion (1999-2000, 2003);
- European champion (1999);
- WBO world champion (2000-2003);
- NABF champion (2005-2006);
- IBF/IBO world champion (since April 2006).
He had to win and defend the most authoritative titles in the boxing world with such eminent and powerful fighters as Chris Byrd, Charles Shafford, Ray Mercer, Jameel McCline. The champion's career was not without unfortunate defeats. These, in particular, were the loss to Corrie Sanders in March 2003 in the ring of the German Hannover and the subsequent defeat by Lamon Brewster in April 2004 in the American Las Vegas. After these hardest failures, skeptics decided that Vladimir's successful sports career had come to an end. However, over the past year and a half, V. Klitschko has rehabilitated his name in the eyes of a significant part of experts and the general public with victories over Chris Byrd, Samuel Peter, Calvin Brock and Ray Austin.
In February 2007, shortly before the fight with R. Austin, the promoter of the latter, Don King, flaunted: "We will knock out his heart, and Ray's blows will fly his chin to Ukraine. We will crush him and mix him with dirt." Alas, King's ward did not justify the boss's hopes, it was not Vladimir who was trampled down.
In the professional ring he had 59 fights: 56 wins (49 by knockout), 3 losses.
On February 23, 2008, in New York, at the already familiar Madison Square Garden arena, Vladimir fought a landmark fight in his career - for the title of absolute world champion. The opponent was the WBO champion Russian Sultan Ibragimov (12 cm lower, 9 kg lighter, but rather technical and, as it was believed, uncomfortable - left-handed).
After 12 rounds, V. Klitschko emerged as the winner from the ring and the owner of three championship belts at once (according to WBO, IBF and IBO). The last time a similar unifying super-fight took place almost 10 years ago.
Contrary to the opinion shared by many boxing fans, Ibragimov's manager Boris Grinberg did not agree shortly before the fight that Wladimir Klitschko's main weakness was his "crystal" chin. “No, I don’t agree,” he said. “Wladimir clearly showed this in a duel against Peter, when, having been knocked down three times, in the end he was able to win.”
On December 13, 2008, he defended his titles in a duel with American Hasim Rahman. The battle took place in the German Mannheim. In the sixth round, the American was knocked down after a powerful blow from Klitschko, but still continued the fight. However, in the seventh round, the referee stopped the fight, which turned into a beating of Rahman.
On June 20, 2009, Wladimir Klitschko again defended his titles in a duel with WBA "champion on vacation" Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan. The fight took place in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) at the 60,000-strong stadium "Veltins Arena". The Ukrainian won by technical knockout in the ninth round, and for R. Chagaev this defeat was the first in the professional ring.
March 20, 2010 Wladimir Klitschko defended his titles in a fight with American Eddie Chambers. The fight took place in Düsseldorf (Germany) at the 51,000-seat Esprit Arena. The fight took place with the complete dominance of the Ukrainian and 12 seconds before the end of the last round, Klitschko knocked out Chambers with his left hook.
September 11, 2010 Wladimir Klitschko defended his titles in a duel against Nigerian Samuel Peter, nicknamed "Nigerian Nightmare". The fight took place in Frankfurt am Main at the stadium "Commerzbank-Arena". The Ukrainian heavyweight dominated the entire fight. In the tenth round, V. Klitschko's long attack on the opponent gave the desired result. After a series of blows, Peter was knocked out.
In December 2010, Wladimir Klitschko was supposed to enter the ring against Briton Derek Chisora, but two days before the fight, the Ukrainian was injured in training and the fight was postponed until April 30, 2011.
V July 2012 of the year, the second fight of Wladimir Klitschko took place with the mandatory challenger according to IBF, Tony Thompson. Klitschko knocked out Thompson in the 6th round.
V november 2012 year, Vladimir met with an undefeated Polish boxer, Mariusz Wahom. The fight was very difficult, but despite the absence of knockdowns, the victory was awarded to Vladimir.
In April 2015, Wladimir Klitschko, world champion according to IBF, WBA, WBO, IBO and The Ring Magazine, in a tough fight with American Bryant Jennings (64th fight of Wladimir Klitschko in the professional ring) won and defended his belts.
November 28, 2015 at Dusseldorf as a result of the battle with the British Tyson Fury lost the fight by unanimous decision and lost all his belts. Judging scores: 115-112, 115-112, 116-111.
April 29 2017 lost the year championship fight with 27 year old champion IBF British Anthony Joshuaby losing vacant titles WBA and IBO.
August 3rd 2017 Wladimir Klitschko announced his retirement from sports.
Hobby. Among the champion's hobbies are art, foreign languages, music, new technologies. Despite the fact that Wladimir Klitschko can afford the most exotic trips, he calls Trukhanov Island in Kiev his favorite vacation spot.
Wladimir Klitschko plays percussion instruments at the amateur level. He rides on skiing and snowboarding, engaged kitesurfing and wakeboarding.
Wladimir Klitschko starred in the Hollywood movie "Ocean's 11". The film was directed by Oscar-winning Steven Soderbergh. According to the script of the film, Vladimir was supposed to play himself, having a duel for the title with Lennox Lewis. Together with his brother, he became the author of the best-selling book on a healthy lifestyle, Our Fitness. By the way, it is Vitaly, also a world-famous boxing champion, that Vladimir considers his closest friend.
Together with his brother, he spends a lot of money on charity.
Personal life. First wife - Alexandra Alijanovna Avizova (born 1975), Kiev model.
From 2011 to 2018, he was in a relationship with American actress Hayden Panettiere; on December 9, 2014, their daughter Kaya Evdokia was born. In August 2018, it became known that the couple broke up, but maintained friendly relations.
03/24/2021