Ukraine - Boxing Champion Throws His Hat in a New Ring - NYTimes.com Vitali Klitschko, who is the reigning World Boxing Council heavyweight champion and leads an opposition political party in Ukraine, on Thursday declared his candidacy for president of Ukraine in an election scheduled for 2015. His decision to challenge the incumbent, Viktor F. Yanukovich, came in response to an effort in the Ukrainian Parliament to pass a bill that would prohibit him from running because he holds permanent resident status in Germany, where he has trained.