Floyd Mayweather equalled former heavyweight great Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record with a unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto before promptly announcing his retirement.
Mayweather, who repeated his insistence in the build-up that this bout would be his last, was the heavy betting favourite and unsurprisingly dominated his overmatched foe to retain his WBC and WBA welterweight titles.
Scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111 took the five-weight world champion, almost universally regarded as the pound-for-pound best in the sport, to his 49th consecutive victory in the professional ranks.
Yet the 38-year-old seems to have no desire to reach a half-century as he said in his in-ring interview: “My career is over, that’s official.
“You’ve got to know when to hang it up. I’m close to 40 now. There’s nothing left to prove in the sport of boxing. Now I just want to spend time with my family”
The 38-year-old self-styled “TBE” (“The Best Ever”), who had consistently said that the Berto showdown would be the last time he steps into the ring, had too much guile and nous for the rank outsider.
Berto, who has now lost four of his last seven fights, was set up as the fall guy for the pound-for-pound king’s coronation – and he played the role perfectly, showing plenty of heart but not quite enough quality.
Mayweather has his critics, but he was given a hero’s welcome at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas by a boisterous crowd who had come expecting to see him give Berto, 32, an old-fashioned shellacking.
Great fight! congrats @FloydMayweather all the best for the future, much respect to @AndreBerto gave it everything done himself proud
— Amir Khan (@AmirKingKhan) September 13, 2015
Congrats to @FloydMayweather and he officially retires tonight! #MayweatherBerto
— Sugar Ray Leonard (@SugarRayLeonard) September 13, 2015
He did not quite do that, but instead used his sublime defensive skills to avoid the worst that Berto – a former two-time world champion — could throw at him.
Berto kept coming at Mayweather; Mayweather would land a quick-fire combination and then dart out of trouble again – to roars of approval for the man fans have taken to calling simply “Money.”
Even when he had Mayweather against the ropes Berto found it hard to connect with anything meaningful.
Referee Kenny Bayless had to stop the action in the 10th and warn the pair to stop mouthing off at one another, and there was another flashpoint when the bell sounded.
Mayweather sealed his night’s work – and that of his career, if he is to be believed — by turning showman in the 11th, ducking brilliantly to avoid several Berto haymakers and then looking behind himself as if to say mockingly to his opponent: where am I?
Asked what he and Berto were muttering to each other in the ring, Mayweather said: “Just trash talking.”
Undefeated boxers 51-0 Ricardo Lopez 1985-2001 49-0 Rocky Marciano 1947-1955 49-0 Floyd Mayweather 1996-2015 46-0 Joe Calzaghe 1993-2008
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) September 13, 2015
