Wladimir Klitschko
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Wladimir Klitschko (; ; born 25 March 1976, Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan) is a Ukrainian heavyweight boxer. Klitschko currently holds the IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight titles. His older brother, Vitali Klitschko, is the current WBC world heavyweight champion.
Biography
He was born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR (now Kazakhstan). Though a major celebrity in his former adopted home of Germany, he moved with his older brother Vitali to Beverly Hills in 2004. Their father, Vladimir Rodionovich, was a Soviet Air Force Colonel. Their mother is Nadezhda Ulyanovna.
In the summer of 1996, Klitschko finished Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky Pedagogical Institute (Ukraine) and was accepted in the postgraduate study program of Kiev University. On 18 January 2001 in a conference hall of Kiev University of physical science and sports, Klitschko presented his doctoral dissertation and was awarded a Ph.D. in Sports Science. Klitschko speaks four languages: English, Russian, Ukrainian, and German. At the beginning of his professional career, he began spelling his name Wladimir. The Ukrainian version of his name is Volodymyr (Володимир), which in Russian is Vladimir (Владимир).
Personal Life
In late 2009 he began dating American actress Hayden Panettiere
»http://www.bild.de/BILD/sport/mehr-sport/boxen/2010/02/01/wladimir-klitschko/erster-auftritt-mit-freundin-hayden-panettiere.html
Boxing career
Amateur career
In 1993, Klitschko won the Junior European Championships as a heavyweight. In 1994, he received 2nd place at the Junior World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1995, he won the gold medal at the Military Championships in Ariccia, Italy, defeating Luan Krasniqi, who he had lost to 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.
Known as "The Steel Hammer," Klitschko first achieved world attention at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. He defeated Paea Wolfgramm to win the Super-Heavyweight gold medal. He is now announced as "Dr. Steel Hammer," a name more in the vein of his brother, Vitali, who goes by "Dr. Ironfist."
Professional career
Klitschko turned professional with Universum Box-Promotion in Hamburg under the tutelage of Fritz Sdunek. He suffered his first setback after 24 bouts without a loss to journeyman Ross Puritty, who entered the bout with a record of 24-13-1 »http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=7035&cat=boxer.
On 14 October 2000, in Cologne's Kölnarena (Germany), Klitschko won the WBO Heavyweight Championship from American Chris Byrd. After five successful defenses of the WBO belt, Klitschko suffered a 2nd round upset TKO loss to Corrie Sanders on 8 March 2003, in Hannover, Germany.
After winning two minor bouts in Germany and enlisting the services of legendary boxing trainer Emmanuel Steward, Klitschko again fought for the vacated WBO title on 10 April 2004, in Las Vegas, against Lamon Brewster. Klitschko sent Brewster to the canvas in the fourth round; however, things turned around in the fifth when Brewster began landing punches. Near the end of the round, Klitschko was floored by a right hand. Barely beating the count, Klitschko fell back to the canvas looking exhausted.
On 22 April 2006, in Mannheim, Germany, Klitschko again defeated Chris Byrd, this time by technical knockout, in a contest for the IBF Heavyweight Championship. Referee Wayne Kelly stopped the fight in the seventh round after a knockdown—Byrd beat the count, but his face was battered and bloody, and the fight was waved off. Klitschko then defeated mandatory challenger Ray Austin on 10 March 2007, at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany by a second-round knockout with four consecutive left hooks to Austin's head. Klitschko did not use his right hand once during the fight, doing all his work with his left jab and left hook. Klitschko then avenged one of his previous losses as he defeated Lamon Brewster on 7 July 2007, in Cologne, Germany. Brewster's corner asked the referee to stop the fight at the end of the sixth round. It was later revealed that Klitschko fought most of the fight with a broken middle finger on his left hand.
Klitschko defeated WBO Heavyweight Champion Sultan Ibragimov at Madison Square Garden in New York City on 23 February 2008 to unify the IBF and WBO heavyweight titles. The Klitschko-Ibragimov fight was the first heavyweight unification since Holyfield-Lewis in 1999.
On 12 July 2008, at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Klitschko defeated Tony Thompson by eleventh round knockout.
Klitschko was scheduled to defend his titles against Alexander Povetkin later in 2008, »Wladimir Klitschko's company wins purse bid for Dec. 13 fight but on 25 October, Povetkin withdrew from the fight due to an ankle injury. Instead, Klitschko faced Hasim Rahman on 13 December 2008 and won by TKO. This was the third time Klitschko fought at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. He dominated the fight, winning every round while making good use of his left jab. The referee finally called a stop to the contest in the 7th round after Rahman failed to respond to a series of good shots.
The brothers have been quoted saying that it is only a matter of time until they unify the WBA title belt which is currently held by David Haye. If they achieve this feat, the Klitschko brothers will become the first brothers in heavyweight boxing history to simultaneously hold all of the belts.
On 20 June 2009, Klitschko retained the IBF, WBO, IBO world heavyweight titles and also won the vacant Ring Magazine heavyweight title by defeating Ruslan Chagaev when Chagaev retired after an onslaught of punches towards the end of the ninth round. As Chagaev was WBA champion in recess, the title was not on the line.
On 9 December 2009, Klitschko's management group, K2 Promotions confirmed that a bout with Eddie Chambers has been agreed to take place in Germany on March 20 2010. This mandatory title defense, originally scheduled for December 2009 had to be delayed due to a hand injury that Klitschko sustained in training that required surgery.
Other interests
Klitschko appeared with Lennox Lewis in the motion picture Ocean's Eleven. He is an avid chess player, kite-surfer, golfer, and humanitarian. Both Klitschko brothers have been involved in charitable activities dedicated to supporting the needs of children around the world. Both brothers have formed their own charities that contribute to children in need in Africa and South America. They won humanitarian awards for their "Fight For Peace" and "Sport for Good" projects in 2002 and 2007. In 2002, the Klitschko brothers announced that they had agreed to work specifically for UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which supports more than 180 projects in 87 countries. Klitschko is also a passionate golfer and was seen playing in the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. The tournament was played over three courses in 2008 including St Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns in Fife and Angus.Klitschko was named curator of the Ukrainian pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale. »Venice Biennale: The 'Olympic Games of the art world' Klitschko starred in the music video for Chris Cornell's song "Part of Me" in 2008.
|- style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" |align="center" colspan=8|53 Wins (47 knockouts), 3 Losses (3 knockouts), 0 Draws {|class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Res. |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Record |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Opponent |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Type |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Rd., Time |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Date |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Location |align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes |-align=center | | |align=left| Eddie Chambers
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- »Wladimir Klitschko Fight-by-Fight Career Record
- Biofile Q&A interview with Klitschko {http://www.boxinginsider.com/biofiles/wladimir-klitschko/}
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