Vitali Klitschko Ukraine". Since his retirement, he has maintained a low key level of training and has been in his brother's corner for most fights, most famously when he had an altercation with Anthony Joshua after Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko. During the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election and the following Orange Revolution, the Klitschko brothers openly supported the candidacy of Viktor Yushchenko. In 2005, (Vitali) Klitschko was appointed an adviser to President Yushchenko. In October 2006, he was promoted to full-time adviser. Klitschko began campaigning for Mayor of Kiev shortly after his retirement in 2005. He lost the 2006 mayoral election to
Vitali Klitschko vs. Chris Byrd of the fight with Byrd being elusive and making himself a difficult target. After 9 rounds Vitali had suffered a torn rotator cuff and despite being clearly ahead on the scorecards (88-83, 88-83, & 89-82) he retired on his stool handing the win to Byrd. Harold Lederman, HBO's unofficial judge, had Klitschko ahead 88-83 at the time of the stoppage. Vitali's status as a rising star of the Heavyweight division took a knock after this with HBO commentator Larry Merchant said, "He doesn’t have the mentality of a champion. I can hardly believe what I just saw." Byrd's first defence