Wladimir Klitschko world heavyweight champion) dominated heavyweight boxing, a period typically known as the "Klitschko Era" of the division. Klitschko was born in Semipalatinsk (now Semey), Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union (now Kazakhstan). His father, Vladimir Rodionovich Klichko (1947–2011), was a Soviet Air Force major general and a military attaché of Ukraine in Germany; he was also one of the commanders in charge of cleaning up the effects of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and was afterward diagnosed with cancer. Wladimir's mother is Nadezhda Ulyanovna. He is the younger brother of former WBC, WBO and Ring magazine heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, the current
Wladimir Klitschko December 2013, Klitschko and his fiancée Hayden Panettiere visited the Euromaidan-protests in Kiev. His brother Vitali was one of the leading figures of these protests. He and his fiancée addressed the crowds. Wladimir and his brother Vitali have never fought each other in a professional fight as their mother made them promise to never fight each other. In 2008, after Wladimir's photo session held for "Vanity Fair" magazine with Karolína Kurková, she claimed to have had a relationship with the boxer. Klitschko speaks four languages: English, German, Russian and Ukrainian. He was friends with the late German heavyweight legend Max