Wladimir Klitschko may be the reigning World Boxing Association heavyweight champion, his older brother Vitali, meanwhile, who last fought over a year ago, has announced his intention to run for president in Ukraine in 2015, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The three-time World Boxing Council champion declared his candidacy in front of the Ukrainian parliament on Thursday.
Klitschko emerged as a top opposition leader since being elected to parliament last fall, serving as head of the Ukranian Democratic for Reforms party, better known as UDAR.
Founded in 2010, and billed as a pro-Western party, UDAR's platform stated its intentions "to liberate its citizens from excessive state control and to limit government intervention into private life. A citizen, not an official, must be the pinnacle of the state pyramid. The government apparatus must serve the citizens and be fully controlled by them," according to its web site.
Klitschko political aspirations are to serve as an antidote to current President Viktor Yanukovych, who he feels has adopted 'authoritarian' methods, running contrary to the democratic hopes of the nation.
"We want to build democracy in Ukraine,. In Ukraine, you can buy everyone. You can buy every position, every judge, you buy every court decision. The biggest enemy to democracy is that there are no clear rules and so much corruption. Ukrainian politics is simple business and we have to change that," Klitschko recently told ESPN.com.
Klitschko unsuccesfully ran in the 2006 mayoral elections, but was elected to ity council, and soon co-founded UDAR four years later.
"It's tough job, to be honest," Klitschko conceded. "I have learned lessons about Ukrainian politics, and I want to make changes in Ukraine. I am not alone. Together, me and many other people, we have a vision. We are fighting for changes in Ukraine and real democracy in Ukraine," he also told ESPN.com.
With his political ambitions intact, the former three-time champion is expected to retire from a sport where he successfully amassed a 45-2 record. Despite a controversial loss to heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in 2002, Klitschko gained international respect for his guts and determination in the ring.
