Klitschko brothers represented Ukraine at the 1996 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division. In 1996, when still an amateur, Vitali Klitschko tested positive for a banned substance and was removed from the Ukrainian boxing team. In June 1999, Vitali Klitschko won the WBO Heavyweight title from Herbie Hide via second-round knockout. He successfully defended the title twice before losing it to Chris Byrd. Six months later, younger brother Wladimir dethroned Byrd via lopsided points decision. He registered five successful title defenses, all by TKO until suffering an upset TKO loss to Corrie Sanders in March 2003. Vitali Klitschko lost
Wladimir Klitschko vs. Ruslan Chagaev had beaten Vitali Klitschko in June 2003. Klitschko dominated the fight, with him winning every round on one scorecard, and all but one on the other two. He knocked Chagaev down in the second round and opened a cut over his left eye in the eighth. The fight was stopped after the ninth round. Inmediatly after this bout Chagaev would lose his "Champion In recess" status and would not fight for eleven months. Klitschko would make two defences against Eddie Chambers and a rematch with former WBC champion Samuel Peter, before a unification bout with now WBA beltholder Haye in