- Evan Holyfield has been knocked out in a massive upset loss
- The legendary boxer’s son failed to match his father’s impressive early years in pro boxing
Evander Holyfield’s son, Evan came in as a massive favorite over his opponent, Jurmain McDonald at TrillerVerz 5 at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. on Saturday. Unfortunately, Evan wasn’t able to live up to the hype as McDonald stunned him with a savage right hand that sent him face-first to the mat in the second round, handing him his first pro boxing loss.
While Evander Holyfield had retired from competitive boxing in 2011, at 58 he was invited to participate in a Triller Fight Club exhibition match in September of last year in which he faced former UFC champion Vitor Belfort. During the first round of the fight, Belfort knocked out Holyfield with a TKO.
Evander is one of the finest combat athletes ever. The elder Holyfield started his pro boxing career 28-0, won a cruiserweight title and a heavyweight title, and beat Larry Holmes, George Foreman, and Buster Douglas. Besides that, he also fought Mike Tyson twice, and the outcome of his second meeting was disqualification due to Tyson biting off his ear.
Check out Evan’s brutal knockout loss below:
Jurmain McDonald has STOPPED Evan Holyfield in ROUND ONE! UPSET!!! #TrillerVerz5 @TrillerFight pic.twitter.com/eAqvYOnam3
— TrillerTV (@FiteTV) May 15, 2022
Nobody expected it
As a reported -10,000 favorite, surely no one expected Evan to suffer his first professional defeat against a journeyman like McDonald. In fact, even the 24-year-old couldn’t believe he was knocked out as he was trying to contest the referee’s decision to stop the fight after failing to get back up to his feet.
WHAT DID WE JUST SEE 🤯
Evan Holyfield just got knocked out!
Buy venue tickets or watch live with the #TrillerVerzPass on @fitetv at https://t.co/3fia6F0BJx pic.twitter.com/9XkCjifYLD
— Triller Fight Club (@trillerfight) May 15, 2022
A derailed hot start
Prior to his maiden loss, Evan was coming off a sensational streak, having been unbeaten in nine straight fights. Six of those came by way of KO/TKO. Sadly, the young Holyfield has failed to match or even come close to his father’s impressive early years in the sport–a flawless record in his first eight years as a pro.
It is yet to be known what lies ahead of Evan but the taste of a first knockout defeat will surely teach him a lot of lessons.
