With a career that began in 1997, Firat Arslan is still adding wins to his record at the age of 54.
The German cruiserweight started his professional boxing journey at age 26 and is showing no signs of slowing down 28 years later.
The opening three years of his career would prove to be very successful, as he found himself with a perfect 13-0 record. However, back-to-back losses in his following two bouts would disrupt his momentum.
Having tasted defeat, Arslan would begin to see his future win streaks interrupted by draws and defeats. As of 2025, his record stands at 56-9-3.
Despite the losses and lack of a title, this hasn’t stopped Arslan from thinking he is a world champion.
Firat Arslan believes he is a world cruiserweight champion
Arslan has been able to string together enough impressive wins in his career to warrant opportunities at world cruiserweight titles. However, his attempts have been unsuccessful.
The German’s first world title opportunity would come in 2012 when he faced Marco Huck. Losing by unanimous decision, Arslan would get the chance to right his wrong against Huck for the same belt two years later. However, he was stopped in round six.
There would be a further two opportunities for Arslan to claim a world title, however, neither was successful.
A split-decision loss to Yoan Pablo Hernandez in 2014, and a TKO loss to Kevin Lerena in 2020 would spell more disappointment for Arslan.
However, a misunderstanding would lead to Arslan believing he is a world champion.
Fighting Edin Puahlo in 2023, the two competed for the ‘WBA Gold’ title. Winning via sixth-round TKO, Arslan celebrated by saying, “Finally, world champion again after 16 years… In the end, my endless patience paid off.”
The German mistakenly believed he had become a world champion. However, the ‘WBA Gold’ title is not the equivalent of a world title.
If Arslan wanted to be a world champion at cruiserweight, he would have to defeat the likes of Jai Opetaia or Gilberto Ramirez. However, as Opetaia called out Ramirez, it is an unlikely next fight for either champion.
Should Arslan claim a world title at 54, it would be a feat similar to the history made by George Foreman aged 45.
Firat Arslan boasts incredible knockout streak aged 54
Despite being 54 years of age, Arslan is currently on an incredible stoppage streak at the time of writing.
In October of 2024, Arslan defeated Angel Gabriel Ledesma via a second-round knockout. Not only is it impressive to be scoring knockouts aged 54, but it was his ninth stoppage win in a row.
Since 2021, Arslan has won all of his fights by stoppage after losing his last world title opportunity.
Among his 56 wins, Arslan has won 41 by knockout. This means he has an impressive finishing rate of over 73%.