Vitor Belfort makes quick work of Evander Holyfield, scoring first-round TKO

Vitor Belfort knocked out Evander Holyfield in the first round Saturday in Hollywood, Florida.

Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on MMAJunkie.com.

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HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – As many expected, Vitor Belfort put away Evander Holyfield with ease.

The former UFC champion needed less than two minutes to dispatch the 58-year-old Holyfield in their heavyweight boxing bout Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The official stoppage came at the 1:49 mark of the first round.

As soon as the bell rang, they touched gloves and the action immediately began. Holyfield pressured the Brazilian and landed a nice left hook. Soon after that, Belfort rocked Holyfield with a right hand and had him wobbled. Belfort pressured Holyfield and knocked him down. Holyfield quickly stood up, but was quickly put down again with a right hand.

Holyfield continued after his second knockdown to get greeted by a barrage of punches from Belfort. The referee immediately stopped the bout as Holyfield was clearly hurt.

Holyfield took the fight on short notice, replacing Oscar De La Hoya, who was forced out of the bout with Belfort after getting hospitalized from COVID-19.

Holyfield hadn’t fought in a decade. The last time he competed was at age 48, when he defeated Brian Nielsen via TKO. The fourt-ime heavyweight champion is a little over a year away from his 60th birthday.

Holyfield disagreed with the stoppage of his fight:

“I think it was a bad call,” Holyfield said on the broadcast. “I don’t think the referee should’ve stopped the fight that quick.”

Meanwhile, Belfort, 44, returned to competition for the first time since his TKO loss to Lyoto Machida in May 2018 under MMA. Belfort has only competed once in professional boxing, having defeated Josemario Neves in 2006.

Belfort called out Jake Paul in his post-fight interview alongside Triller Fight Club CEO Ryan Kavanaugh. The original offer of $25 million for Paul to take the fight was upped to $30 million on the spot by Kavanaugh.