Vitali Klitschko

Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko (; Ukrainian: Віта́лій Володи́мирович Кличко́ [wiˈtɑl⁽ʲ⁾ij woloˈdɪmɪrowɪtʃ klɪtʃˈkɔ]; born 19 July 1971), known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv. Until the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 he also served as head of the Kyiv City State Administration.

Klitschko is a former leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, and is a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament. He became actively involved in Ukrainian politics in 2005 and combined this with his professional boxing career until his retirement from the sport in 2013. He holds a Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) in "Sports Science" from Kyiv University's Physical Science and Sports Department.

As a boxer, Klitschko won multiple world heavyweight championships. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) title from 1999 to 2000, the Ring magazine title from 2004 to 2005, and the World Boxing Council (WBC) title twice between 2004 and 2013. Overall, he defeated 15 opponents in world heavyweight title fights, and made 12 successful title defences. In 2011, Vitali and his younger brother Wladimir Klitschko entered the Guinness World Records as brothers with most world heavyweight title fight wins (30 at the time; 40 as of 2020). 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. Klitschko's last fight was in 2012, but he remained the WBC heavyweight champion at age 42 when he announced his retirement in December 2013.