As an amateur, he recorded all his significant results in the middleweight division.
He started his professional career shortly after the Olympics, in the fall of 2000, as a competitor of Universum Box-Promotion in Hamburg. He won his first professional match on December 5, winning by knockout against the Belgian Filip Houthooft in the light heavyweight match. At the beginning of his professional career, he entered the ring to the song "Don't let it be me" by the German band Scooter and "Szállj el kismadár" by the band Republic.
In 2002, he won the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Intercontinental Championship title. On his home field, at the gala organized in the new Főnix hall in Debrecen, he won by knockout in the fifth round against Jim Murray from South Africa.
In 2004, he won the WBO welterweight world championship belt after defeating defending champion Julio César González of Mexico by unanimous decision in Karlsruhe.
After István Kovács (WBO) and Mihály Kótai (WBF), he became the third Hungarian male world champion in professional boxing, but he was the first to win an organization's belt by defeating the reigning champion.
He was the WBO welterweight world champion until 2009, and then in 2009 he moved up to a higher weight class. In his last match for the Universum stable, on November 21, 2009, he won the cruiserweight world championship belt of the other world boxing organization, the World Boxing Council (WBC), by defeating the defending Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni by majority points.
He became the first Hungarian professional boxer to become the WBC world champion.
Erdei, who has reached the peak of his career and has a perfect record (31 wins from 31 matches, with 17 knockouts), was happy about his success:
"The WBC belt is decorated with a photo of Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis. Ali was my role model and it feels fantastic to be the owner of such a belt"
said the champion then.
In 2010, he signed a three-fight contract with one of the best-known American promoters, Lou DiBella, and tried to break into the American boxing market. In June 2011, he defeated the American light heavyweight Byron Mitchell by technical KO at the professional boxing event in Atlantic City. His successful march was halted by a series of injuries, and from the fall of 2011 there were several thoughts of his retirement.
In March 2013, after a nearly two-year absence, he returned to the ring in good shape, but lost his undefeated streak, as his opponent, Gyenyisz Gracsov of Russia, was declared the winner in the Monte Carlo four-way tournament with a highly debatable judge's verdict and split points. In 2014, at the boxing gala in Kecskemét, he defeated the Georgian Salva Dzhomordashvili by unanimous decision.
with this, he won the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light heavyweight European champion title, ended his career with the victory won in front of the domestic audience, and announced his retirement.
In 2010, he became a member of the board of the Hungarian Boxing Federation (MÖSZ), as well as the head of the BVSC division, recently training young talents with the undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion, Evander Holyfield and István Kovács.
He was the president of MÖSZ from 2017 to 2019, and its professional co-president from 2019 to 2020. His old dream came true in 2014, when he opened the Madárfészek Boxing Academy in Újpest, of which he is the president until 2017, and from 2020 he is also the professional manager of the UTE boxing department. In 2024, he became the head coach of the boxing division of Tatabányai Sport Club. Due to his hobby, he is one of the ambassadors of Hungarian fishing.
In recognition of his successful career, he received a fair play award in 1992, and in 1994 the Magyar Televízíó Individual Creative Award. In 2000, he was chosen as the best boxer in Europe at the European Championships in Tampere. In 2000, he received the Best of the Year award, and in 2004, he was recognized by the WBO.
In 2000, he received the civilian section of the Gold Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, in 2007 the civilian section of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary,
In 2009, he received the civilian section of the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. In 2006, his handprint was included on the Wall of Hungarian Sports Stars. In 2010 he received the Prima prize, in 2011 the Papp László Budapest Sports Prize, in 2014 the Ferenc Csík Prize and the National Sports Career Prize. In 2019, the public media participated in It's good to be good! also in his campaign, where he offered a glove.
Source: hirado.hu / MTI
Cover photo: Zsolt Erdei shows his bronze medal after the announcement of the results at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 (MTI Photo: Tibor Illyés).
