[18][19][20] From 2006 until 2015, Vitali and Wladimir (also a multiple world champion) dominated heavyweight boxing, a period widely known as the "Klitschko Era" of the division.

He was a leading figure in the 2013–2014 Euromaidan protests, and he announced his possible candidacy for the Ukrainian presidency but later withdrew and endorsed the eventual winner Petro Poroshenko.

In the same year he won a silver medal at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany, where he was defeated by Russia's Alexei Lezin in the final.

He attributed the presence of the drug to treatment of a leg injury, but was dismissed from the Ukrainian boxing team and missed the Atlanta Olympics.

With both brothers holding PhDs and being multilingual, their refined and articulate personalities made for mainstream marketability when they moved to Germany and Universum.

In his 25th pro fight on 26 June 1999, Klitschko won the WBO heavyweight title from Herbie Hide of the United Kingdom by a second-round knockout.

Klitschko rebounded from his loss to Byrd by reeling off five victories in a row, earning himself a shot at WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

[39] Before the seventh round, the ringside doctor inspected the wound and deemed it severe enough to threaten eye damage if struck again, stopping the fight despite Klitschko's pleas to continue.

[40] After negotiations collapsed, Klitschko defeated Kirk Johnson in a WBC eliminator bout on 6 December date,[41] setting up a mandatory rematch with Lewis.

In January 2004, the WBC announced that it would strip Lewis of the belt if he let pass a 15 March deadline to sign for a rematch with Klitschko.

[44] Klitschko faced South African Corrie Sanders on 24 April 2004 for the WBC heavyweight championship and The Ring belts that had been vacated by Lewis.

Klitschko scored a technical knockout against Williams in 8 rounds on 11 December 2004, while wearing an orange cloth to show support for the Ukrainian presidential opposition movement.

Immediately afterward, Klitschko dedicated his victory to democracy in his native Ukraine and also to the Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, whom he supported on 26 December 2004, election revote.

On other occasions he cited regrets about his suddenly mounting injuries, a desire to leave the sport while still on top and political aspirations in his home country of Ukraine.

He therefore employed a game-plan which involved applying constant pressure to Klitschko in order to force him into a high tempo fight.

After the Johnson bout, Klitschko's camp began negotiations for a potential fight with former WBA champion Nikolai Valuev, but the match failed to materialize due to economic disagreements.

Sosnowski was knocked down by a right hand in the 10th round, prompting referee Jay Nady to immediately wave off the fight.

[60] Now aged 40, Klitschko retained his WBC heavyweight title against Tomasz Adamek on 10 September 2011 in Poland, winning by TKO in the 10th round, in the first ever PPV fight in Polish TV history.

[citation needed] Klitschko was in negotiations for a possible bout with former WBA heavyweight title holder David Haye on 3 March 2012.

Chisora, constantly coming forward delivering punishing body shots, failed to wear down the older man.

[74][75][76][77] On 2 July 2012, it was announced that Vitali would defend his WBC heavyweight title on 8 September at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia.

According to information gained by the German magazine Der Spiegel, the target was to "set up Klitschko purposefully as a new strong man in Kyiv—in order to counter this way the Kremlin's growing influence".

"[121] He believes former President Viktor Yanukovych and his government were "deliberately destroying the integration (into Europe) prospects of Ukraine"[122] and that Ukrainian politicians have no right to let them "rule after 2014".

[119][126][e] In December 2011, Klitschko described the judicial system of Ukraine as "complete degradation" and accused it of violating human rights and humiliating its prisoners.

[160] On 15 March, Klitschko announced a 36-hour curfew from Tuesday night amid what he called a difficult and dangerous moment, stating, "I ask all Kyivites to get prepared to stay at home for two days, or if the sirens go off, in the shelters," About half of Kyiv's 3.4 million residents had fled.

[163] On 10 March 2022, Vitali and Wladimir announced via Telegram that they had raised €100 million of financial support for Ukraine with a fundraising campaign in Germany.

[165] On 23 May, Klitschko and Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba were in Davos, Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

[172] On 23 July 2022, The Times posted an article in which it alleged that Vitali and Wladimir were on Vladimir Putin's personal hitlist of 24 high-profile Ukrainian figures whom he wanted assassinated.

[19][20] Considered national heroes in Ukraine, in 2008 the Klitschko brothers were ranked number 15 in Inter's list of the 100 Greatest Ukrainians following a nation-wide poll that saw around 2.5 million people casting their votes.

[242] In 1996, Klitschko graduated from the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky Pedagogical Institute (Ukraine)[13] and was accepted into the postgraduate study program at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.