Wladimir Klitschko Universum Box-Promotion in Hamburg under the tutelage of Fritz Sdunek, often being featured on fight cards alongside his elder brother Vitali. After building an undefeated record of 24–0 with 22 KOs, he suffered his first loss to 24–13–1 Ross Puritty, in what was Klitschko's first and only professional fight in Ukraine. Puritty forced Klitschko, who had at that time not gone beyond 8 rounds, to punch himself out. Klitschko began to be overwhelmed in the 10th round and went down twice but was allowed to continue. At the start of the 11th round, with Puritty continuing to land hard punches,
Wladimir Klitschko peak of second best on "The Ring"s pound for pound list. BoxRec currently ranks him as the 20th best boxer of all time and the greatest European boxer of all time, pound for pound. Until his loss to Tyson Fury in 2015, Klitschko was also recognized as lineal champion by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, while the WBA recognised him as one of its "Super champions", a distinction given to boxers who hold that title in addition to those by other sanctioning bodies in the same division. From 2006 to 2015, Wladimir and his older brother Vitali (himself a former