diff --git a/tools/perf/tests/backward-ring-buffer.c b/tools/perf/tests/backward-ring-buffer.c
index b2c634815f6bf79e034cef23b7150b4a74c9558c..db9cd3048655b824ae80f8ccf0db9a002b4fb9b4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/tests/backward-ring-buffer.c
+++ b/tools/perf/tests/backward-ring-buffer.c
@@ -101,7 +101,6 @@ int test__backward_ring_buffer(int subtest __maybe_unused)
 		return TEST_FAIL;
 	}
 
-	evlist->backward = true;
 	err = perf_evlist__create_maps(evlist, &opts.target);
 	if (err < 0) {
 		pr_debug("Not enough memory to create thread/cpu maps\n");
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 7570f903200e154d90be59303396ef4aec43df32..5beb44faa71d2a88ee0fe04801b9150a8a3354f6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ void perf_evlist__init(struct perf_evlist *evlist, struct cpu_map *cpus,
 	perf_evlist__set_maps(evlist, cpus, threads);
 	fdarray__init(&evlist->pollfd, 64);
 	evlist->workload.pid = -1;
-	evlist->backward = false;
 }
 
 struct perf_evlist *perf_evlist__new(void)
@@ -867,9 +866,7 @@ union perf_event *perf_evlist__mmap_read_backward(struct perf_evlist *evlist, in
 
 union perf_event *perf_evlist__mmap_read(struct perf_evlist *evlist, int idx)
 {
-	if (!evlist->backward)
-		return perf_evlist__mmap_read_forward(evlist, idx);
-	return perf_evlist__mmap_read_backward(evlist, idx);
+	return perf_evlist__mmap_read_forward(evlist, idx);
 }
 
 void perf_mmap__read_catchup(struct perf_mmap *md)
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.h b/tools/perf/util/evlist.h
index 07a1ad040c9204515f9f909d6ec6fb851d17c9d8..6a3d9bdda4bb7ece4e024b51534b042d104948dc 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.h
@@ -50,7 +50,6 @@ struct perf_evlist {
 	bool		 overwrite;
 	bool		 enabled;
 	bool		 has_user_cpus;
-	bool		 backward;
 	size_t		 mmap_len;
 	int		 id_pos;
 	int		 is_pos;