Vitali Klitschko for the past ten years prior to election day; and Klitschko had lived for many years in Ukraine and Germany, where, according to media reports, he has a residence permit. Opinion polls since early 2011 showed that the predicted percentage of votes that Klitschko would gain in the first round of the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election enlarged from 4.8% in December 2011 to 15.1% in February 2013, and an October 2013 Razumkov Centre poll predicted 19.3%. Klitschko was one of the dominant figures of the Euromaidan protests. During these protests, he retired from boxing. He confirmed on 28 February 2014
Lennox Lewis vs. Vitali Klitschko 2003 to determine who would face Lewis next. Klitschko easily dispatched Johnson, winning by second-round technical knockout, to set up a rematch with Lewis. However, rather than proceed with his rematch with Klitschko, Lewis announced his retirement two months later on February 7, 2004, vacating his titles in the process. Two months later, Klitschko met the WBC's number two ranked contender and then-reigning WBO champion Corrie Sanders, who had defeated Klitschko's brother Wladimir earlier in 2003, for the vacant WBC and "The Ring" Heavyweight titles. Klitschko defeated Sanders, who relinquished his WBO title to fight Klitschko, by eighth-round technical knockout