{"id":1537,"date":"2013-12-16T15:53:08","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T20:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2013-12-16T15:53:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-16T20:53:08","slug":"vitali-klitschko-vacates-wbc-heavyweight-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/2013\/12\/16\/vitali-klitschko-vacates-wbc-heavyweight-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitali Klitschko vacates WBC Heavyweight title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_1538\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1538\" style=\"width: 594px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/files\/2013\/12\/vitaliklitschko.jpg\" alt=\"getty images\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/files\/2013\/12\/vitaliklitschko.jpg 594w, https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/files\/2013\/12\/vitaliklitschko-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1538\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">getty images<\/figcaption><\/figure>c<br \/>\nVitali Klitschko has vacated the WBC heavyweight title. It has been 15 months since the 42-year-old last defended the title.<\/p>\n<p>The WBC has appointed Klitschko to &#8220;champion emeritus&#8221; status meaning if he chooses to return he could immediately invoke a title shot.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to thank the WBC and its president, Don Jose Sulaiman, for the support in our fight for democracy and freedom in Ukraine,&#8221; Klitschko said. &#8220;It was and is a great honor to hold the WBC title, and I&#8217;ve always done it with pride. The offer of the WBC gives me the theoretical possibility to return to the boxing ring, which I cannot imagine at all to the current state.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Right now, my full concentration is on politics in Ukraine, and I feel that the people need me there. My brother [and unified heavyweight champion] Wladimir will ensure more sporting success and I will, as always, support him as much as he currently supports me in my political fight.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Klitschko vacated the WBC title in 2005 after suffering back and knee injuries. He later turned and won the title back in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>If this is the end of the road Klitschko ends his career with a 45-2 record and  41 KOs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>c Vitali Klitschko has vacated the WBC heavyweight title. It has been 15 months since the 42-year-old last defended the title. The WBC has appointed Klitschko to &#8220;champion emeritus&#8221; status meaning if he chooses to return he could immediately invoke a title shot. &#8220;I want to thank the WBC and its president, Don Jose Sulaiman, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[105,104],"coauthors":[3],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-front","tag-vitali-klitschko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/backpage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}