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There are many incredible figures in the long and storied history of professional boxing, but few can match the remarkable tale of the Klitschko brothers. They never fought each other and instead focused their aggression on their rivals, shared various world championship belts, and individually became two of the most dominant boxers in the history of the sport. Along the way they have become doctors, won elections and, having retired from the ring, they are fighting a war together. 

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A radioactive origin story

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Vitali and Wladimir were born into a Soviet military family; their Ukrainian father (also called Wladimir) was an air force colonel, and this meant they moved around a lot throughout their childhood. Vitali was born in Kyrgyzstan in 1971, while Wladimir was born in Kazakhstan in 1976. The family then moved to the Czech Republic before briefly returning to Kyiv in 1985.

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The following year they moved again, as their father’s unit was involved in the cleanup process in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. Vitali later described how the vehicles and helicopters used in these operations would return to the base “and first had to be washed down. All of the radioactive water flowed into huge pools, and we played in those pools.” The young brothers seemingly suffered no ill effects from this experience, but sadly their father was not so fortunate, passing away in 2011 after many years fighting cancer.

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The Klitschko Era begins

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Vitali’s early career was affected by the draconian rules of the Soviet Union; he was a gifted martial artist in multiple disciplines and particularly keen on kickboxing, but the sport was banned in the USSR so all his early training was in boxing. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 he was free to compete in all competitions, and won world championships in kickboxing as well as excelling in amateur boxing and karate. Wladimir’s amateur boxing career began a little later in 1993, and he was equally successful. Within three years he had won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division at the Atlanta Olympics. A few months later both brothers turned professional, marking the beginning of what came to be known in boxing as The Klitschko Era.

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Vitali was the first to win a world championship belt when he defeated the British boxer and WBO world champion Herbie Hide in front of a hostile crowd in London in 1999. He successfully defended this belt twice, but disaster struck in his third defense of the title when he was forced to retire with a shoulder injury in the ninth round. At the time he was well ahead on all of the judges’ cards, but his opponent, Chris Byrd, was unable to enjoy his fortunate victory for long. Six months later Wladimir comfortably defeated him and regained the WBO title for the Klitschko family. 

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Doctor Ironfist and Doctor Steelhammer

During this period the brothers were not just training and fighting but also learning, and they both secured PhDs in sports science. Vitali gained his doctorate in 2000 with a thesis on talent and sponsorship in sport, and the following year Wladimir followed suit with his work on optimal training levels for teenage athletes. The two doctors thus earned their True Superhero nicknames, with Vitali known as Dr. Ironfist, and Wladimir Dr. Steelhammer. 

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Back in the ring, Wladimir defended his title five times before finally losing to Corrie Sanders, in what has been described as one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. Sanders did not fight again for almost a year, and unfortunately for him his next opponent was Vitali, who returned the favor by avenging his brother’s defeat. Vitali was now the WBC world champion, a title he would successfully defend 12 times until hanging up his gloves in 2012, at the age of 41. Meanwhile, his younger brother went after the other world title belts and over the following decade unified the IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight titles.

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The brothers had sworn to their mother at an early age that they would never fight each other and instead chose to dominate heavyweight boxing as a pair; by the time both had retired they had a combined record of 109 wins and just seven defeats. Vitali is often described as the better fighter, as he was never knocked down in his entire career, but Wladimir holds the record for the longest undefeated reign as heavyweight world champion at 4,382 days (12 years). Vitali only ranks fifth on the all-time list at seven years, five months and 28 days, a feat only bettered by Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and his younger brother. Individually they are two of the most successful boxers in history, and together, they completely dominated the sport for more than a decade, but greater challenges were still to come for the brothers.

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A new arena

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In 2004 the Klitschkos became involved in Ukrainian politics, vocally supporting Viktor Yushchenko’s presidential campaign and standing alongside him during the subsequent Orange Revolution of 2005. Vitali was subsequently appointed as a full-time adviser to President Yushchenko and ran for office himself several times, first unsuccessfully as Mayor of Kyiv, and then successfully becoming an MP leading his own political party, the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform. 

After retiring from the ring, Vitali immersed himself further in politics. 2013 was a turbulent year in Ukraine with widespread protests sparked by the government’s decision not to sign a cooperation pact with the European Union, and instead choose closer political ties with Russia. Vitali became one of the leading opposition figures of the Euromaidan movement, and by early 2014 the government had been overthrown. Vitali initially announced that he intended to run for president in the forthcoming elections, but soon changed his mind and chose instead to run for Mayor of Kyiv again. This time he was elected with a substantial majority and, as is common with the Klitschkos, he has successfully defended his title twice, making him the longest-serving mayor of Kyiv and the only person to have won three mayoral elections in Ukraine’s capital.

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Now, Kyiv and Ukraine face an existential threat from the East, and both Vitali and Wladimir had been prominent faces in the resistance against the Russian invasion. When the war started in February 2022, Russian forces began an onslaught of missile attacks on Kyiv, with an invasion force heading toward the capital from Belarus. Vitali and Wladimir both immediately enlisted in the military, and as Mayor Vitali has acted as a focal point for resistance, inspiring countless Kyiv residents to take up arms to defend their city. As he told Ukraine 24 TV: 

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“The situation is tense. As we’re preparing, a large number of tanks are coming in from the east, from Belarus. Our guys are also preparing to defend us... Our guys are performing astonishingly in repelling the attacks on Kyiv. Today, the Russian’s target is our capital… And I am surprised that people who have never carried a weapon in their lives, doctors, theater actors, now do so and say that we will defend our homes and defend our country and our city.“

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The Russian advance met strong resistance outside Kyiv in the early days of the invasion, with civilian militias fighting Russian troops in the suburbs of the city. By early March the Russian advance had been halted completely, and a counter-offensive by Ukrainian troops forced Russia’s ground forces to withdraw completely from the Kyiv Oblast by April. With any luck, the Klitschkos will continue to provide stout resistance to their opponents and inspiration to their followers for many years to come.    

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