Wladimir Klitschko is hanging up his gloves. Here’s his career in numbers
Wladimir Klitschko has announced his immediate retirement from boxing.
The 41-year-old former world heavyweight champion had been considering a lucrative rematch with Anthony Joshua but instead will bow out on April’s dramatic defeat by the IBF and WBA champion.
Joshua is likely to instead fight mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev, of Bulgaria, while Klitschko ensures his legacy remains in tact as one of the finest heavyweights in history.
In a statement the heavywieght legend said: "I’m very thankful for this. Thanks to everyone who has always supported me. Especially my family, my team and my many fans.
"It was the best choice of a profession I could have made.
"At some point in our lives, we need to or just want to switch our careers and get ourselves ready for the next chapter. Now it’s my turn."
Just heard #WladimirKlitschko is retiring he has been a great ambassidor 4 sport of Boxing it is 1 of the most difficult decisions 2 make pic.twitter.com/QgOmerIvSH
— Frank Bruno MBE 🇬🇧 (@frankbrunoboxer) August 3, 2017
69 - The number of fights Klitschko had during his 21-year professional career.
64 - The number of victories he achieved throughout the course of those 69 fights.
53 - The number of those victories that came via knockout.
5 - Professional defeats, by Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Lamon Brewster, Corrie Sanders and Ross Puritty. Fury was the only of those five to outpoint the Ukrainian.
369 - Rounds boxed.
198 - Klitschko’s height, in centimetres, or 6ft 6ins.
206 - Klitschko’s reach, in centimetres.
90,000 - The number present at Wembley Stadium on April 29, and a post-war boxing record in the UK, for the fight with Joshua.
23,333,330 - The reported winning purse bid, in US dollars, for Klitschko’s 2013 defeat of Russia’s Alexander Povetkin.
41 - The age at which Klitschko announced his retirement.
2 - The heavyweight twice reigned as world champion.
11 - He also went 11 years without defeat, between that by Brewster in 2004 and that in 2015 by Fury.
29 - The number of world heavyweight title fights in which he was involved.
1 - Olympic gold medal won, at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He later sold his medal for one million US dollars, donating the proceeds to his charity, the Klitschko Foundation.
