Maxim Klitschko makes his pro debut with Monaco basketball

He didn’t choose the ring, but the parquet. Maxim Klitschko, son of the legendary boxer and now mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko, made his professional debut with As Monaco, opening a new sporting chapter away from the family tradition. In the French championship match won against Le Mans (99-85), the son of art played four minutes, thus making his debut with the Principality team. The team, due to numerous injuries and a precarious financial situation, is forced to manage a reduced roster and therefore to focus on young players. Two of them made their debut on Sunday at the Salle Gaston-Médecin in Monte Carlo: guard David Paindepice and, indeed, Maxim Klitschko.

US experience

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Born in Los Angeles in 2005 (20 years old), he plays as a winger and arrived in Munich two years ago after experiences in Oxford, Connecticut and Bath. He is averaging 15.6 points and 7.1 rebounds in 26 minutes per game in his 16 appearances this season with Monaco’s Under-21 team. He only started playing basketball in 2021 and arrived in the Principality thanks to Monaco’s general director, Oleksiy Yefimov. Yesterday, despite not having taken any shots in his almost four minutes on the Monaco court wearing the number 6 shirt, he grabbed two rebounds against Le Mans.

There are those who say no

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This young and slender striker (2.16 metres), in addition to being the son of the former Ukrainian boxer Vitali (54 years old), mayor of Kiev since June 2014, is also the nephew of Wladimir, also a former world boxing champion. Despite this, he decided not to follow in the footsteps of his father and uncle. Maxim Klitschko is not the first son of art to spite his parent and practice a different sport. Jack Doohan, a driver with a past in Formula 1 and son of five-time world motorcycling champion Mick Doohan, chose four wheels instead of two. Jaden Gil Agassi would have had a smooth path with two tennis legends as parents, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, but he chose baseball. NHL star Alex Ovechkin has changed disciplines compared to mother Tatiana Ovechkina, winner of two golds with the Soviet Union national basketball team. Among the Italians, there is the case of the basketball player Nicolò Melli, son of the volleyball player Julie Vollertsen; the cyclist Filippo Ganna, with a canoeist father like Marco Ganna; the former rhythmic gymnast Martina Centofanti, daughter of the former Nerazzurri footballer Felice Centofanti; the skater Carolina Kostner chose the ice like her father Erwin Kostner, who however played hockey; and the former volleyball player Andrea Giani, heir to Dario Giani, rower of the eight at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.