Legendary heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko has announced his retirement from the sport of boxing. He released the following statement on his website:

"I deliberately took a few weeks to make my decision, to make sure I had enough distance from the fight at Wembley Stadium.

"As an amateur and a professional boxer, I have achieved everything I dreamed of, and now I want to start my second career after sports.

"I would have never imagined that I would have such a long and incredibly successful boxing career. I'm very thankful for this. Thanks to everyone who has always supported me, especially my family, my team and my many fans."

He also released the following video on YouTube: