This is a knockout: Wladimir Klitschko announced his retirement

The youngest of the Klitschko brothers, Wladimir, is retiring from professional sports. The 41-year-old Ukrainian boxer announced the decision on his official website. The Klitschko era is over.

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Former IBF, IBO, WBA, and WBO world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has decided to end his boxing career. He announced this on his official website.

Vladimir made a two-minute video message in which he briefly told about his professional path and stated that he had become the person he aspired to be. "I have achieved everything I dreamed of, and now I want to start my second career after sports."

Klitschko has been competing in the professional ring since November 1996. The Ukrainian brought his national team the gold medal of the 1996 Olympics in the weight category over 91 kilograms.

The boxer had 69 fights, in 64 of which he won, and was defeated in five. Before turning professional, being an amateur, Klitschko had 140 fights. He won 137 victories, 65 of them by knockout. He owned championship belts in the WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO versions.

Klitschko Jr. was nicknamed Doctor Steel Hammer.

In October 2013, Klitschko won a fight with Russian Alexander Povetkin for the title of world champion.

In April of this year, Klitschko suffered an early defeat from Briton Anthony Joshua in a fight for the IBF, IBO and WBA titles. The contract for the fight for the Ukrainian provided for the possibility of an immediate rematch with Joshua.

It was expected that the second meeting of the boxers would take place on November 11 in Las Vegas, but 41-year-old Klitschko decided to refuse a rematch with Anthony Joshua, officially announcing his retirement from professional boxing. This came as a complete surprise to everyone.

According to Klitschko, after completing his boxing career, he will start a business that he started several years ago. The Klitschko brothers have their own promotion company K2 Promotions, under the auspices of which, among others, world champions Alexander Usyk, Gennady Golovkin and Roman Gonzalez perform.