In a career spanning 26 years and 5 months, Evander Holyfield fought 57 times with 44 wins, 10 losses, and 2 draws. By his last professional fight on May 7, 2011, Holyfield's boxing record stood at 44-10-2 (29 KO wins, 2 KO losses).
WBA | WBC | IBF |
---|---|---|
HV w4 d7 | HV w1 d3 | HV w3 d5 |
CR w1 d5 | CR w1 d0 | CR w1 d3 |
Evander Holyfield (The Real Deal) is a retired American professional boxer. He was born in Atmore, Alabama, U.S. on October 19, 1962. Holyfield made his professional boxing debut at the age of 22 on November 15, 1984. He is a former 2-weight-class world champion. He is 60 years old, and will be turning 61 in 8 months and 18 days. Holyfield is a Hall of Famer.
Total Fights | 57 |
---|---|
Wins | 44 |
Losses | 10 |
Draws | 2 |
No-Contests | 1 |
KO Wins | 29 |
---|---|
Total Title Wins | 11 |
Title Defenses | 11 |
Title-Fight KO Wins | 9 |
Losses via KO | 2 |
# | Date | Age | Opponent | Result | Via |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
57 | May 7, 2011 | 48 | Brian Nielsen | Win | TKO10 |
56 | Jan 22, 2011 | 48 | Sherman Williams | NC | NC |
55 | Apr 10, 2010 | 47 | Francois Botha | Win | TKO8 |
54 | Dec 20, 2008 | 46 | Nikolai Valuev | Loss | MD |
53 | Oct 13, 2007 | 44 | Sultan Ibragimov | Loss | UD |
52 | Jun 30, 2007 | 44 | Lou Savarese | Win | UD |
51 | Mar 17, 2007 | 44 | Vinny Maddalone | Win | TKO3 |
50 | Nov 10, 2006 | 44 | Fres Oquendo | Win | UD |
49 | Aug 18, 2006 | 43 | Jeremy Bates | Win | TKO2 |
48 | Nov 13, 2004 | 42 | Larry Donald | Loss | UD |
47 | Oct 4, 2003 | 40 | James Toney | Loss | TKO9 |
46 | Dec 14, 2002 | 40 | Chris Byrd | Loss | UD |
45 | Jun 1, 2002 | 39 | Hasim Rahman | Win | TD |
44 | Dec 15, 2001 | 39 | John Ruiz | Draw | SD |
43 | Mar 3, 2001 | 38 | John Ruiz | Loss | UD |
42 | Aug 12, 2000 | 37 | John Ruiz | Win | UD |
41 | Nov 13, 1999 | 37 | Lennox Lewis | Loss | UD |
40 | Mar 13, 1999 | 36 | Lennox Lewis | Draw | SD |
39 | Sep 19, 1998 | 35 | Vaughn Bean | Win | UD |
38 | Nov 8, 1997 | 35 | Michael Moorer | Win | RTD8 |
37 | Jun 28, 1997 | 34 | Mike Tyson | Win | DQ |
36 | Nov 9, 1996 | 34 | Mike Tyson | Win | TKO11 |
35 | May 10, 1996 | 33 | Bobby Czyz | Win | RTD5 |
34 | Nov 4, 1995 | 33 | Riddick Bowe | Loss | TKO8 |
33 | May 20, 1995 | 32 | Ray Mercer | Win | UD |
32 | Apr 22, 1994 | 31 | Michael Moorer | Loss | MD |
31 | Nov 6, 1993 | 31 | Riddick Bowe | Win | MD |
30 | Jun 26, 1993 | 30 | Alex Stewart | Win | UD |
29 | Nov 13, 1992 | 30 | Riddick Bowe | Loss | UD |
28 | Jun 19, 1992 | 29 | Larry Holmes | Win | UD |
27 | Nov 23, 1991 | 29 | Bert Cooper | Win | TKO7 |
26 | Apr 19, 1991 | 28 | George Foreman | Win | UD |
25 | Oct 25, 1990 | 28 | Buster Douglas | Win | KO3 |
24 | Jun 1, 1990 | 27 | Seamus McDonagh | Win | TKO4 |
23 | Nov 4, 1989 | 27 | Alex Stewart | Win | TKO8 |
22 | Jul 15, 1989 | 26 | Adílson Rodrigues | Win | KO2 |
21 | Mar 11, 1989 | 26 | Michael Dokes | Win | TKO10 |
20 | Dec 9, 1988 | 26 | Pinklon Thomas | Win | RTD7 |
19 | Jul 15, 1988 | 25 | James Tillis | Win | RTD5 |
18 | Apr 9, 1988 | 25 | Carlos de León | Win | TKO8 |
17 | Dec 5, 1987 | 25 | Dwight Muhammad Qawi | Win | KO4 |
16 | Aug 15, 1987 | 24 | Ossie Ocasio | Win | TKO11 |
15 | May 15, 1987 | 24 | Ricky Parkey | Win | TKO3 |
14 | Feb 14, 1987 | 24 | Henry Tillman | Win | TKO7 |
13 | Dec 8, 1986 | 24 | Mike Brothers | Win | TKO3 |
12 | Jul 12, 1986 | 23 | Dwight Muhammad Qawi | Win | SD |
11 | May 28, 1986 | 23 | Terry Mims | Win | KO5 |
10 | Apr 6, 1986 | 23 | Jesse Shelby | Win | KO3 |
9 | Mar 1, 1986 | 23 | Chisanda Mutti | Win | TKO3 |
8 | Dec 21, 1985 | 23 | Anthony Davis | Win | TKO4 |
7 | Oct 30, 1985 | 23 | Jeff Meachem | Win | TKO5 |
6 | Aug 29, 1985 | 22 | Rick Myers | Win | TKO1 |
5 | Jul 20, 1985 | 22 | Tyrone Booze | Win | UD |
4 | Apr 20, 1985 | 22 | Mark Rivera | Win | TKO2 |
3 | Mar 13, 1985 | 22 | Fred Brown | Win | TKO1 |
2 | Jan 20, 1985 | 22 | Eric Winbush | Win | UD |
1 | Nov 15, 1984 | 22 | Lionel Byarm | Win | UD |
Featured Opponents
Evander Holyfield's professional boxing career spanned more than 26 years — from 1984 to 2011.
Holyfield made his debut against Lionel Byarm at the age of 22 on November 15, 1984, defeating Byarm via 6 round unanimous decision. He went on to win 27 more consecutive fights after the debut, which included 22 wins via stoppage.
Holyfield had his first world title fight at the age of 23 on July 12, 1986 after 11 professional fights, against Dwight Muhammad Qawi for the cruiserweight WBA title. He defeated Qawi via 15 round split-decision to become the cruiserweight champion of the world.
He was a two-time undisputed world champion — at heavyweight and cruiserweight; and a three-time unified world champion — at heavyweight (2x) and cruiserweight, and has won 11 world titles at 2 weight classes. For all the details about Holyfield's world title wins and defenses refer to "Evander Holyfield World Titles".
Some of Holyfield's best fights and notable victories include wins over Carlos de León, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Riddick Bowe, Buster Douglas, Larry Holmes, Michael Moorer, and Mike Tyson.
Evander Holyfield had a total of 10 losses in his professional boxing career — seven of them in title bouts and three in non-title bouts. He suffered his first loss against Riddick Bowe via 12 round unanimous decision on November 13, 1992, which ended his 28-fight win streak. He has been stopped two times and lost eight times via decision. For more details about these defeats, refer to "All of Evander Holyfield's losses".
His last professional fight was a non-title bout against Danish boxer Brian Nielsen on May 7, 2011. Holyfield won the fight via 10th round TKO. It's been 11 years, 8 months, and 25 days since this fight.
Holyfield retired from professional boxing with a record of 44-10-2, which included 29 knockout wins and 2 losses via knockout, and 11 title wins. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) in 2017.
Evander Holyfield fought a total of 57 times during his professional career. He was among the very best of his generation and put on some incredible performances. These eight fights are the highlight of his career.
A 23-year old Evander Holyfield (11-0, 8 KO) had his first world title fight against Dwight Muhammad Qawi for Qawi's WBA cruiserweight belt. Qawi was 33 years old with a record of 26-2-1. Qawi was on a seven-fight win streak with 15 KO wins. Holyfield was the taller of the two by 19 cms and also had a 9 cm reach advantage.
Holyfield defeated Qawi via 15 round split-decision to win the WBA cruiserweight title.
In a rematch, a 25-year old Evander Holyfield (16-0, 12 KO) faced Dwight Muhammad Qawi, who was now 34 years old with a record of 28-4-1 in a cruiserweight title defense fight. Qawi was on a one-fight win streak with 17 KO wins. Holyfield was the taller of the two by 19 cms and also had a 9 cm reach advantage.
Holyfield defeated Qawi via 4th round KO to retain the WBA and IBF cruiserweight titles.
A 25-year old Evander Holyfield (17-0, 13 KO) faced Carlos de León, who was 28 years old with a record of 44-4 in a undisputed cruiserweight championship bout. León was on a five-fight win streak with 29 KO wins. Holyfield was the taller of the two by 6 cms and also had a 14 cm reach advantage.
Holyfield defeated León via 8th round TKO to win the WBC cruiserweight title and retain the WBA and IBF cruiserweight titles.
A 28-year old Evander Holyfield (24-0, 20 KO) faced Buster Douglas, who was 30 years old with a record of 30-4-1 in a undisputed heavyweight championship bout. Douglas was on a seven-fight win streak with 20 KO wins, and was the taller of the two by 3 cms and also had a 14 cm reach advantage over Holyfield.
Holyfield defeated Douglas via 3rd round KO to win the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight titles.
A 29-year old Evander Holyfield (27-0, 22 KO) faced Larry Holmes, who was 42 years old with a record of 54-3 in a undisputed heavyweight championship bout. Holmes was on a six-fight win streak with 37 KO wins, and was the taller of the two by 2 cms and also had a 9 cm reach advantage over Holyfield.
Holyfield defeated Holmes via 12 round unanimous decision to retain the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight titles.
In a rematch, a 31-year old Evander Holyfield (29-1, 22 KO) faced an undefeated Riddick Bowe, who was now 26 years old with a record of 34-0. Bowe was on a 34-fight win streak with 29 KO wins, and was the taller of the two by 7 cms and also had a 9 cm reach advantage over Holyfield.
Holyfield defeated Bowe via 12 round majority decision to win the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles. He handed Bowe the first loss of his career, and put an end to Bowe's 34-fight win streak.
A 34-year old Evander Holyfield (32-3, 23 KO) faced Mike Tyson, who was 30 years old with a record of 45-1. Tyson was on a eight-fight win streak with 39 KO wins. Holyfield was the taller of the two by 11 cms and also had a 17 cm reach advantage.
Holyfield defeated Tyson via 11th round TKO to win the WBA heavyweight title.
In a rematch, a 35-year old Evander Holyfield (34-3, 24 KO) faced Michael Moorer, who was now 29 years old with a record of 39-1 in a heavyweight unification fight. Moorer was on a four-fight win streak with 31 KO wins. Holyfield was the taller of the two by 1 cm but Moorer had a 1 cm reach advantage over Holyfield.
Holyfield defeated Moorer via 8th round RTD to win the IBF heavyweight title and retain the WBA heavyweight title.
Some of Holyfield's best wins were against Carlos de León, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Riddick Bowe, Buster Douglas, Larry Holmes, Michael Moorer, and Mike Tyson.
Holyfield knocked out 29 of his 57 opponents. By his last fight, his KO ratio was at 51.8%. Of his total 44 wins, 29 of them were via KO (65.9%).
Holyfield had 10 losses. Nikolai Valuev, Sultan Ibragimov, Larry Donald, James Toney, and Chris Byrd are some of the boxers who have beaten Holyfield.