Former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who backed President Viktor Yushchenko during mass "Orange Revolution" protests, said this week he would run for mayor of Ukraine's capital Kiev.

Klitschko announced his retirement last November after a leg injury prevented him from defending his WBC title. He is highly popular among ordinary Ukrainians and is seen as a post-Soviet role model for young people.

"I have prepared for this step very seriously and I am fully aware of the responsibility," Ukrainska Pravda quoted him as saying.

Klitschko, 34, is already running in the parliamentary election on the ticket of a coalition grouping economic liberals and activists who backed the revolution.

The ex-champion said the mayor's job was more important. He pledged to fight corruption and use his international contacts to boost Kiev's prosperity.

Klitschko will be challenging incumbent Oleksander Omelchenko, 68, who has run Kiev for nearly 10 years.

Omelchenko backed Vitaly and his younger bother Vladimir in the early stages of their boxing careers.

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