Heavyweight Champ Turned Politician Vitali Klitschko Fights for his Beliefs

Politicians say a lot of things. Day in and day out they are providing the media with sound bite after sound bite in an effort to make themselves look better just in case there are voters paying attention to the news. Too often people are not listening.

After so many empty promises and smear campaigns people have had enough with the same old politicians. They need something new. They need something they can believe in. They need someone who is clearly not afraid of the work or getting his hands dirty.

They need a heavyweight champion like Ukraine's Vitali Klitschko.

The WBC Heavyweight champion is running for office (mayor of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine). On Wednesday he was in town in order to protest the Russian Parliament making Russian the official language (at least in some formal settings) of the country.

If Ukraine did not have their own language this might be okay, but the Ukrainian language does exist. It had been outlawed in the country courtesy of the now-defunct Russian Empire for the better part of a century (from 1804 till early 20th century). Having their culture disrespected did not sit well with many citizens, and along with Klitschko they held a protest.

Just like any other protest, the government of course did not like this and deployed riot police to deal with them. Tear gas and violence ensued. In the process Klitschko was injured (but not severely).

This is a politician I can believe in. Klitschko, who happens to be the leader of the UDAR in Ukraine, not only talks the talk, but he literally walks it. With a title defense on the line in September no one (at least no one in the U.S.) would have faulted him for taking a behind the scenes role in the protest. Being the stand up politician that he is, he was on the front line facing down the enemy, and getting injured for something he believes in.

(Incidentally, Klitschko has never been knocked down or out and has a PhD as well.)