Vitali Klitschko (Ukrainian: Вита́лий Влади́мирович Кличко́, Vitaliy Klychko, IPA: [ʋiˈtɑlɪj klɪtʃˈkɔ]; English: /vɨˈtæli ˈklɪtʃkoʊ/; born 19 July 1971 in Belovodsk, Kirghiz SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyrgyzstan)) is a Ukrainian professional heavyweight boxer and the current WBC world heavyweight champion . He has the highest knockout percentage (94 .9%) of any heavyweight boxing champion in overall fights . His younger brother, Wladimir Klitschko, is the current IBF, WBO, IBO and Ring Magazine world heavyweight champion . Vitali is the first professional boxing world champion to hold a Ph .D . (in sports science) . Originally Klitschko was a kickboxer, with a record of 34-1 with 22 Knockouts . In November, 1993, he took part in the world amateur championship of WAKO, held at Atlantic City, New Jersey . He got defeated by KO from Pele Reid with the back-spin-kick at the final match of the 89 kg class . However, as a professional kickboxer, Klitschko won the super heavyweight championship at the first World Military Games in Italy in 1995 . In that same year, he won the silver medal at the 1995 World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin Germany, where he was defeated by Russia's Alexei Lezin in the final. His amateur record was 195-15 with 80 knockouts. He began his professional boxing career in 1996, winning his first twenty-four fights by either early knockout or technical knockout (TKO). He and Wladimir signed with the German athlete-promotion company Universum. With both brothers holding Ph.D.s and being multilingual, their refined and articulate personalities made for mainstream marketability when they moved to Germany and Universum. In time, they became national celebrities in their adopted home country. In his 25th pro fight, on 26 June 1999, Klitschko won the WBO heavyweight title from Herbie Hide of the United Kingdom by a 2nd round knockout. .