oddsnark | The Gloves Are Off In Ukrainian Elections

Boxing

The Gloves Are Off In Ukrainian Elections

By oddJoe ⋅ March 16, 2006 ⋅ Post a comment

This is sort of old news (but then when did that ever stop us?), but boxer Vitali Klitschko has traded in his trunks and a proclivity for pummeling people for a suit and the need to kiss babies. The former heavyweight champion is running for mayor in Kiev, Ukraine, and he is seeking a seat in the Ukrainian parliament in elections to be held March 26. Rightly or wrongly, Klitschko was tagged with the nickname “Bitchko” while he was fighting, so maybe now people will start calling him Klitschko politico instead. You might scoff at a professional fighter becoming a politician, but Klitschko has a history of supporting the opposition Orange Revolution party, taking the stage with president Viktor Yushchenko during the disputed 2004 election and resulting protests, and he can always settle disputes with his fists if need be, unlike our politicians who gun people down on “hunting trips.”

Nikolai Valuev, The Beast From The East Klitschko is running against 67-year-old incumbent Oleksandr Omelchenko, who has held the mayor’s position for a decade and by who, by some accounts, leads in the polls by six percent. I’m sure that Omelchenko is glad that if he has to face a fighter in the election race that it be Klitschko and not Nikolai “The Beast From The East” Valuev, who reportedly beat a 61-year-old parking attendant named Yuri Sergeev into a pulp. Police are still investigating the incident, but Valuev does admit that he had a run in with Sergeev in which the parking attendant made a crude remark about his wife, Galina. The seven-foot tall monster claims the parking attendant must have slipped on some “black ice” during their altercation. Oh, that dreaded black ice.