I read before that his father was a Marxist and that Vitali and Wlad were raised to adore Karl Marx, who was renowned for having anti-semitic views. So the fact that Vitali has gone in this direction, is a strange one to understand...Especially given both him and Wlad's relationship with Max Schmeling up until Max's death, who is always open to debate as to whether or not he was a Nazi. Add to this, the population of Ukraine are mostly atheist, its an odd one why he would align himself with Zionism, unless Marxism and Zionism have more in common than is known or may be just to **** off Russia.
I think he's taking a page out of Lewis' book so the history books will say Vitali was "champion" not for a total of say 7 years but for 7 years + 1 year and 3 months (as an example). He hogging the belt, thinking this enhances his legacy.