Valuev defeated Holyfield on points in a bout last Saturday in Switzerland. The judges scored the fight 114-114, 116-112, 115-114 in favor of Valuev, 35, dubbed The Russian Giant, who now has a record of 50-1, with 34 knockouts.
"We're filing a protest that basically says, 'we want you to overturn this.' I just want what's rightfully mine. I didn't lose. I won," Holyfield said in an interview posted on FightNews.com website.
"I don't know why the judges did that, but it's an injustice," Holyfield added.
If the boxing association upholds the appeal from the 46-year-old, who lives and practices in Atlanta, Georgia, a rematch with Valuev will be scheduled.
Earlier Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) said that although he was disappointed it was a good fight, adding that Valuev is quicker than some people believe.
"His hands are not as slow as people think. He is very hard to hit because he is so big. He had a pretty good defense by the way he positioned his body, he is a hard target to hit," Holyfield said.
Valuev became Russia's first world heavyweight champion in December 2005 when he defeated John Ruiz. Last year he was just a few steps away from the record of legendary Rocky Marciano, who retired at 49-0 as boxing's only ever undefeated heavyweight champion, but lost his title bout to Ruslan "White Tyson" Chagaev of Uzbekistan, suffering his first and so far only defeat.
Valuev and Chagaev later scheduled a rematch, which did not take place due to Chagaev's injury and the Uzbek boxer was announced the champion in recess.
