Name	Vitali Klitschko
Height	6 ft 7 in
Naionality	Ukrainian
Date of Birth	19-July-1971
Place of Birth	Belovodsk, Kirghiz SSR (now Kyrgyzstan)
Famous for	Boxer

Vitali Klitschko is a Ukrainian professional boxer and the reigning WBC heavyweight champion. He is leader of the political party UDAR of Vitaliy Klychko and since 15 December 2012, a member of the Ukrainian parliament. He previously held the WBO and WBC titles. Klitschko is the first professional boxing world champion to hold a PhD degree.

Klitschko is known for his powerful punches and durable chin. With a 87.23% knockout percentage rate, he holds the second best knockout-to-fight ratio of any champion in heavyweight boxing history, after Rocky Marciano's 87.76%. He has never been knocked down in any professional boxing bout and has also never lost a decision. His two losses have come via a shoulder injury during a fight and a deep cut above his eye, which were recorded as TKO losses. In both fights, however, he was leading on the scorecards. His power and his possession of a PhD have led to his nickname, Dr. Ironfist. Klitschko won the Super Heavyweight Championship at the first World Military Games in Italy in 1995. Vitali won the silver medal at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin, Germany, where he was defeated by Russia's Alexei Lezin in the final. In his autobiography, published in Germany in 2004, the boxer revealed that he tested positive for a banned steroid in 1996. 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. His brother Wladimir moved up from heavyweight to super heavyweight to take his place in the squad and won the Olympic gold medal. His amateur record was 195–15 with 80 knockouts. By April 2000 Vitali Klitschko was unbeaten and one of the top stars in the heavyweight division and a prime candidate to be the next Undisputed Champion. He had won all 27 of his contests by knockout. On 1 April, Klitschko had a third title defence against the American Chris Byrd, who was a late replacement. Byrd made himself a difficult target and tried to thwart Klitschko's offence by being elusive. Klitschko won most of the rounds and was heading towards a comprehensive points victory when he suffered a serious shoulder injury.

After the ninth round, Klitschko notified his corner that he had a shoulder pain and threw in the towel, thus handing Klitschko his first defeat and awarding Byrd the win by technical knockout. At the time of the stoppage, Klitschko had a lead on all three judges' scorecards (89–82, and 88–83 twice). Klitschko, who was later diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, received much criticism for quitting the fight. 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 on 21 June 2003 in Los Angeles.