Wladimir Klitschko, two-time former world heavyweight champion has just call it a quit to boxing. The Ukrainian former professional boxer announced his retirement from boxing on Thursday 3rd August, 2017.
Wladimir Klitschko
Klitschko retirement is coming after his nine and half years exploit as heavyweight champion. His final competitive fight was in April this year (2017) when he was stopped by Anthony Joshua in the 11th round of the WBA title fight at Wembley Stadium, London.
Klitschko won the super-heavyweight gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and has retained the unified title from 2006 to 2015 before finally losing out to Tyson Fury in 2015. Be that as it may, the former heavy weight champ is hanging up his gloves with a worthy record of 64 wins and five defeats as a professional boxer.
However; “I never thought I’d have such a long and incredibly successful boxing career, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I have achieved everything I dreamed of, and now I want to start my second career after sports,” are the words of Klitschko.
Interesting, Klitschko who was born on 25th March, 1976 happens to be the second-longest reigning heavyweight champion of all time, and has the second-most successful title defenses total of any heavyweight boxer with 23, including his initial reign as WBO champion, behind Joe Louis, 25 and ahead of Larry Holmes, 20 and Muhammad Ali, 19. On 14th September 2015, Klitschko was rated number one fighter in the world, pound for pound by BoxRec.
Also, on 15th November 2014, he reached a career peak of number two on The Ring’s pound for pound list. He has fought in 29 heavyweight title fights, more than any heavyweight champion in the sport’s history. He also holds the record of having defeated the most boxers with an undefeated record, at 12, and has also defeated ten current or former world champions throughout his career.