Origin: Vitali Klitschko was born in Belovodsk, in the former Kirghiz SSR, in the Soviet Union. His father, Vladimir Rodionovich, was a Soviet Air Force Colonel (now General). His mother Nadezhda Ulyanovna was an attendant. Vitali has a  younger brother Vladimir, with whom he always had and presently has a strong brotherly bond.
Education: Since childhood, his parents tried to give his sons-round an education. The brothers were engaged not only in sports but also in music. In 1996 he graduated from the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky Pedagogical Institute (Ukraine) and was accepted into the postgraduate study program at Kyiv University. He graduated from the National Academy of State Administration of the President of Ukraine (Master’s degree).

 Vitali Klitschko began boxing at the age of 14. Originally Klitschko was a kickboxer. In November 1993, he took part in the world amateur championship of WAKO, held at Atlantic City, New Jersey.  As a professional kickboxer, Klitschko won the super heavyweight championship at the first World Military Games in Italy in 1995. In that same year, he won the silver medal at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin Germany.  His amateur record was 195-15 with 80 knockouts. He also was a three-time Ukrainian heavyweight champion in boxing.
Vitali Klitschko began his professional boxing career in 1996, winning his first twenty-four fights by either early knockout or technical knockout (TKO).
In his 25th pro fight, on 26 June 1999, Klitschko won the WBO heavyweight title from Herbie Hide of the United Kingdom by a 2nd-round knockout.
He successfully defended the title twice before an April 1, 2000 match against American Chris Byrd. Complaining of shoulder pain, Vitali and his corner threw in the towel after the ninth round despite carrying a lead on all three judges’ scorecards (89-82, and 88-83 twice). Klitschko, who was later diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, received much criticism for quitting the fight.
Klitschko rebounded from his loss to Byrd by reeling off five victories in a row, earning himself a shot at WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. The fight took place on June 21, 2003, in Los Angeles, California. Before the seventh round, the ringside doctor deemed Klitschko’s wounds severe enough to threaten eye damage, stopping the fight despite Klitschko’s pleas to continue. “No, No, No” – that was Vitali’s immediate reaction after the fight was stopped.
Klitschko was ahead on all three scorecards 58-56 (4 rounds to 2) at the time of the stoppage, but because the wound was a result of punches from Lewis and not a headbutt, Lewis won by technical knockout. For years after this fight, Klitschko would still occasionally call out Lewis, despite the fact that Lewis has been retired since early 2004, for a rematch.
On 6 December 2003  Klitschko defeated Kirk Johnson from  Canada by TKO in the second round. Later he earned an 8th-round TKO victory over South African Corrie Sanders on 24 April 2004, to capture the WBC (World Boxing Council) heavyweight championship which had been vacated by Lewis.
On 11 December 2004 in his first WBC title defence Klitschko scored a technical knockout against  British boxer Williams in 8 rounds.
On 9 November 2005, Vitali Klitschko announced his retirement from professional boxing and vacated his title.
In 2007 Vitali Klitschko announced the decision to return to professional sports, to the delight of thousands of fans from around the world.
Vitali took advantage of his champion emeritus status and secured a title challenge against the reigning WBC champion Samuel Peter. The fight was arranged on 11 October 2008 in Berlin. Klitschko defeated  Peter by TKO in the 8 round and Won WBC Heavyweight Title.
In 2009, Klitschko successfully defended his WBC Heavyweight title three times.
On 21 March Klitschko defeated Juan Carlos Gomez by TKO in the ninth round. On 26 September, Klitschko earned a one-sided TKO victory over Chris Arreola at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
On 12 December Vitali defeated Kevin Johnson by unanimous decision winning almost every round. Klitschko then defended his WBC belt against Albert Sosnowski on May 29,  2010 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. On 16 October 2010 in  Hamburg, Germany Vitali  Klitschko defeated  Shannon Briggs by unanimous decision win in every round.
On 19 March 2011 in Cologne, Germany, Klitschko defeated Cuban boxer Odlanier Solis Fonte by TKO in the first round.
On 10 September 2011, in Wroclaw, Poland,  Klitschko defeated Tomasz Adamek from Poland by TKO in the tenth round.
On 18 February 2012  in Munich, Germany, Klitschko defeated   Dereck Chisora by unanimous decision winning.
On 8 September 2012 in  Moscow, Russia,  Klitschko defeated  Manuel Charr by  TKO 4, and Retained WBC heavyweight title.
On 15 December 2013, Vitali Klitschko was announced as champion emeritus and focused on political activity in Ukraine. Klitschko was one of the dominant figures of the Euromaidan protests. On 24 October 2013, he intended to take part in the next Ukrainian presidential election which was then set for 2015. But he had changed his mind and would run for the post of Mayor of Kyiv.  Klitschko won Kyiv’s mayoral elections with almost 57% of the votes. In the 2015 Kyiv Mayoral election, Klitschko was reelected with 66.5% of the vote.
He currently serves as Mayor of Kyiv

 Together with his parents and brother Vitali travelled much of the Soviet Union.  Vitali and Wladimir spent almost all their childhood in military garrisons. In 1985 they moved to Ukraine.
He is married to Natalia Egorova, a former athlete and model. They met in Kyiv and got married in April 1996. They have three children, Egor-Daniel (b.May 16, 2000), Elizabeth-Victoria (b. November 24, 2002 ) and Max (b. April 1, 2005)  (named after the former World Heavyweight Champion Max Schmeling). In 2022 Vitali Klitschko divorced his wife, Natalia Klitschko, after 25 years of marriage
“Many years – different interests, different life. And we decided to make it official. This is the wish of both parties. We still have good relations, we respect each other, the children are already adults, and life goes on,” Klitschko said.
In 2004, the Vitali Klitschko brothers moved from Hamburg, Germany to Los Angeles, California.
In January 2004, they notified Universum that they would not re-sign when their contracts expired in April. Universum sued the brothers, arguing that their recent injuries had triggered a clause binding them beyond April. The suit was ultimately resolved in favour of the Klitschkos in November 2009
Both brothers hold PhDs and they are multilingual,  speaking four languages: Russian, Ukrainian, German, and English.
They became national celebrities when they moved to Germany. However, despite their great popularity in Germany and in the World, Vitali and Vladimir Klitschko are proud to say that they are perceived abroad as citizens of Ukraine.
Current Residence: Kyiv, Ukraine
Zest: Nicknames: Dr Iron Fist & Iron Chin, King of KOs.  His coach is Fritz Zdunek. His younger brother, Vladimir Klitschko, is the current IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight champion.
In the close circle of friends, Vitaly sometimes regards string guitar. Both brothers would be in the Hollywood movie Ocean Eleven, and become guests of honour at the “Monte-Carlo World Music Awards” and “Echo”, among their friends would be Bill Clinton, Mohammed Ali, Boris Becker and Steffi Graff, Jon Bon Jovi, Dieter Bohlen and David Bowie, Giorgio Armani.
Both Vitali and his brother are avid chess players. Vitali is a friend of former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and the two have played, with Kramnik always winning. Vitali said “chess is similar to boxing. You need to develop a strategy, and you need to think two or three steps ahead about what your opponent is doing.
You have to be smart. But what’s the difference between chess and boxing? In chess, nobody is an expert, but everybody plays. In boxing, everybody is an expert, but nobody fights.”