Commentary: Standing up for life’s most important and toughest battle

Former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko has never been knocked out in the ring. Now the mayor of Kyiv is the symbol of strength for a nation that refuses to collapse.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky is the most prominent figure in Ukraine’s valiant war against the Russian invasion force.

But you also shouldn’t ignore what it means to have one of the country’s biggest sporting heroes—literally—on the political frontline.

Vitali Klitschko is 201cm tall, weighs just over 110kg when active and has a core strength in the boxing ring that can intimidate his opponent.

Together with his brother Vladimir, he is behind many of the proudest sporting achievements in Ukraine’s history.

Both now take an active part in stubborn Ukrainian resistance to the Russians.

At least, the mayor of the capital, Vitaly, has become important as a motivating advocate for the hard-tested people, who more than ever need leaders and role models in an exhausting war.

It is nothing but random situations that you see Klitschko in the photo

Here, the “strong man symbolism” could not be more evident than when a politician takes various positions on machismo.

As an athlete, Vitali Klitschko was known to be invincible.

Although stats show that he has lost twice in 47 fights as a professional, no one has ever been able to eliminate the man who is now 51 years old.

One of the defeats came when he suffered from shoulder pain in a match he was leading on points against American Chris Bird. The second came against Lennox Lewis, when the fight was stopped due to an eye injury, and then with the Ukrainian in front of the judges.

The rest of his professional career was an uninterrupted run of results until 2013, when he retired as a boxer at the age of 42.

Unfortunately, Klitschko’s biography was also marked by an early doping ban, which cost him the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, which he himself explained by the fact that he was undergoing treatment for a leg injury at that time.

But the case had little impact on his legacy as a boxing superstar, and the two boxing brothers remain among the most famous Ukrainian sports figures of all time.

There is something about the body that seems sculpted like statues.

steel cans.

The nicknames “Dr. Ironfist” and “Dr. Steel Hammer”.

In a word, an appeal is being created that is now very actively used in the public display of Ukrainian resilience.

The brothers were born in the former Soviet Union, and their father was an officer. The boys grew up strong with drilling and kickboxing and building an extreme physique which they later enjoyed in the boxing ring. Vitaly also has a military background, speaks several languages ​​and has a PhD.

On the eve of his career, he was already well on his way to building his political career which in 2014 led him to the Kiev mayor’s office.

Several times it was speculated that he would eventually end up in the presidency. During the Orange Revolution, he actively supported Viktor Yushchenko, serving for a while as his advisor.

Klitschko unsuccessfully tried to become mayor of Kyiv in 2006, became chairman of the reform party UDAR, was elected to parliament and participated in the Euromaidan protests in 2013.

In the year following the latter, he was elected mayor of the capital, having received more than half of the votes.

But now it’s not just the city’s challenges that preoccupy him, Klitschko has become a voice on a broader front.

When Russia invaded Ukraine last winter, he was early on urging the Ukrainian people to fight.

Vitali Klitschko has been an important driving force in obtaining the country’s weapons and assistance from Western countries. He was particularly aggressive towards Germany, the country in which he had previously lived.

“Ukraine has nowhere to retreat and will defend its homeland against the invading force,” the 51-year-old told Reuters a few days after the war began.

It’s been over a year now. Klitschko is still in the midst of the most important and difficult battle of his life, along with his constituents.

They can’t afford to lose that match. In any case, you will not stand up to it, in the words of Klitschko:

“I know better than anyone, you won’t win if you don’t fight.”