Profile of Wladimir Klitschko on Famous Like Me

Dr. Wladimir Klitschko (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 physical 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 body movement. Klitschko is prone to suffering knock-downs easily, plus 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 Kolnarena (Koln) Germany, Klitschko won the WBO Heavyweight Championship from American Chris Byrd (who had defeated Vitali for the title 6 months earlier; Byrd later won the IBF world Heavyweight Championship). 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 only Round-Two, Klitschko was knocked down 4 other times in this match.

After 2 warm-up bouts in Germany, Wladimir again fought for the (then vacant) 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 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 prospect Eliseo Castillo (who came into the match undefeated in his 19 fights, including 14 KO's) 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's number-one contender ranking, respectively. Despite being knocked down three times and repeatedly holding his opponent, 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 (or, "points") 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.

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