Wladimir Klitschko
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Dr. Wladimir Klitschko (Ukrainian: Володимир Володимирович Кличко – Volodymyr Volodymyrovyč Klyčko; born March 25 1976 in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan) is a Ukrainian heavyweight boxer. Though major celebrities in their adopted home of Germany, in 2004 he and his brother moved to Beverly Hills. His older brother by almost 5 years, Vitali Klitschko, is also a boxer (who won the WBC world Heavyweight Championship in 2004). Wladimir is known as "Doctor Steelhammer" because of his doctorate in sport science (Vitali also has a doctorate), and his knockout punching power.
Biography
Klitschko first shot to fame at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, in which he defeated Paea Wolfgramm in the finals for the Super-Heavyweight gold medal. Standing at about 6'7" (2.01 m), Wladimir is large even for a heavyweight (yet lean and muscular); he usually dominates opponents with his quick jab, devastating power, and fluid body movement. Klitschko is prone to suffering knock-downs easily; he has also had rare episodes of sudden, mid-fight exhaustion (due to suspect cardiovascular conditioning). His record as of September 2005 is 45-3, with 40 knockouts. He turned professional with Universum Box-Promotion in Hamburg, Germany under the tuteledge of Fritz Sdunek.
On October 14 2000, in Kölnarena (Cologne) Germany, Klitschko won the WBO Heavyweight Championship from American Chris Byrd (who had won it from Vitali 6 months earlier; Byrd later won the IBF Heavyweight Title). After five successful defenses of the belt, Wladimir suffered an upset loss to South African Corrie Sanders on March 8 2003 in Hannover, Germany. Though KO'd in just the second round, Klitschko was knocked down 3 other times in this match.
After 2 minor bouts in Germany, Wladimir again fought for the (recently vacated) WBO Title on April 10 2004 in Las Vegas. He was TKO'd at the end of Round-Five by American Lamon Brewster -- who, ironically, is a cousin of Byrd's. The fight ended strangely: Wladimir seemed to collapse more from utter exhaustion than from the underdog Brewster's punches. Speculative accusations from Klitschko's corner (that Wladimir had somehow been drugged) were never proven. In Klitschko's following fight, he defeated a top American contender in Las Vegas.
On April 23 2005, Wladimir stopped rising undefeated prospect Eliseo Castillo (who had 14 KO's in his 19 fights) back in Germany. On September 24 2005 Klitschko faced Samuel Peter in an eliminator match at Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA for the IBF and WBO number-one contender ranking, respectively. Despite being knocked down three times (one knock-down came from being punched behind the head; the second from being pushed down) and repeatedly grabbing onto his opponent's arms (i.e., "clinching"), Klitschko dominated large parts of the fight. Klitschko also exposed the less-experienced Peter's lack of cardiovascular conditioning and technique. Wladimir earned a unanimous-decision victory.
The younger Klitschko has appeared in a match against Lennox Lewis -- but, only in the motion picture Ocean's Eleven (a real-world match between them fell through after Wladimir lost to Sanders). Both Klitschko brothers have stated that they would never fight against each other under any circumstances, which became a moot point after Vitali's retirement.de:Wladimir Klitschko fr:Vladimir Klitchko sv:Wladimir Klitschko uk:Кличко Володимир Володимирович