Wladimir Klitschko – Bio, Wife, Baby, Brother, Height, Weight, Age

Quick Facts

Retired heavyweight boxer, Wladimir Klitschko is rated amongst the greatest heavyweight fighters of all time thanks to his exceptional power and mobility, which sets him apart from other boxers in his weight class.

The two-time world heavyweight champion has contested a record of 29 heavyweight title bouts, more than any other heavyweight champion in the sport’s history, including Muhammad Ali, winning 23 of those fights. He also has the record of defeating most of the boxers with an undefeated record (12) which all culminated in him having the longest combined world championship reign in heavyweight history.

Wladimir Klitschko Biography (Age)

Klitschko was born Wladimir Wladimorowitsch Klitschko, one of two children to Vladimir Rodionovich Klitschko and Nadezhda Ulyanovna, on March 25, 1976, in Semipalatinsk (now Semey), Kazakh SSR (now Kazakhstan). His father was an Airforce major general for the Soviet while his mother was a homemaker.

He began his journey to become a renowned boxer in the 90s, joining Poland’s Gwarda Warszawa boxing club where he and his older brother Vitali dominated opponents. He went on to compete as a heavyweight in the 1993 Junior European Championships which he won but failed to replicate the success at the Junior World Championships the following year as he came second. Klitschko went on to dominate amateur heavyweight boxing, winning the super heavyweight gold medal at the 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta to further announce himself to the world with an amateur record of 134 wins and 6 losses.

After the Olympics, Klitschko decided to become a professional boxer, making his debut on a fight card with his brother in Hamburg, Germany in November 1996. He went on to rack up an undefeated record of 24 straight wins, of which 22 were Knock Outs before suffering his first loss to American boxer Ross Puritty in 1998.

Despite the surprise loss, Klitschko continued his meteoric rise in the sport, winning the vacant WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight, European heavyweight, and WBC International heavyweight title. He went on to add the WBO heavyweight title by beating American Chris Byrd. He retained the belt in five subsequent fights before he was upset by South African Corrie Sanders in what Ring Magazine named Upset of the Year on 8 March 2003 in Hanover, Germany. Sanders first dropped Klitschko twice in the opening round and then another two times in the second round before the match was stopped by the referee.

After losing another fight, this time against Lamon Brewster on April 10, 2004, Wladimir Klitschko went under the tutelage of legendary boxing trainer Emanuel Steward with whom he embarked on an undefeated streak, winning four championship belts with 22 consecutive victories before falling at the hands of England’s Tyson Fury in a unanimous decision.

Klitschko tried to make a comeback in April 2017 against another Englishman but again lost through a technical knockout in the 11th-round. The duo had a rematch clause in their contract and following discussions of a possible rematch, Wladimir Klitschko called time on his career through his official website and social media pages on August 3, 2017. He retired with a record of 64 wins from 69 fights, of which 53 were by knockout.

Klitschko’s Family – Wife, Baby, Brother

Wladimir Klitschko is currently in a longterm relationship with actress  having previously been married to Ukrainian model Aleksandra Avizova from 1996-1998. Klitschko and Panettiere began seeing each other in 2009 after meeting at a book launch party of a mutual acquaintance. Despite a brief split in 2011, the pair got engaged in October 2013 before welcoming a child together, a daughter named Kaya, born on December 9, 2014.

Klitschko’s elder brother, Vitali Klitschko A.K.A Dr. Ironfist, who was born on the 19th of July, 1971, is also a famous boxer who once held the WBC, WBO and Ring magazine heavyweight titles with a record of 45 wins and 2 losses. The Klitschko brothers never got to fight each other in a professional fight because their mother made them promise her they would not. Vitali is currently the Mayor of Kiev and holds a Ph.D. in sports science like his brother, Wladimir. He is married to former athlete and model Natalia Egorova with whom he has three children.

Height, Weight, and Other Facts

Birth Name: Wladimir Klitschko

Nickname: Dr. Steelhammer

Date of Birth: 25 March 1976

Place of Birth: Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Semey, Kazakhstan)

Profession: Heavyweight Boxer

Height: 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m)

Weight: 109 kg

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