Klitschko brothers 5 months & 13 days. Vitali retained the WBC Heavyweight Championship until 15 December 2013, relinquishing his belt in pursuit of his political aspirations in his native Ukraine. The Klitschko brothers jointly run the professional boxing promotion companies ""K2 Promotions"" and ""K2 East Promotions"", as well as the ""Klitschko Brothers Fund"", a charity organization. They appear together on German TV shows and commercials, have a website shared between them, and support each other's training and fights. After Vitali's retirement, Wladimir continued to reign as champion & successfully defend all remaining title belts except for the WBC belt. He eventually lost
Vitali Klitschko and awarding Byrd the win by RTD. At the time of the stoppage, Klitschko had won 8 of 9 rounds on one judge's scorecard, and 7 of 9 on the two others. 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 between Lewis and Klitschko was to take place in December 2003, and Klitschko signed for a tune-up fight on 21 June 2003 as part