Floyd Mayweather defeats Canelo Alvarez with majority decision for WBC and WBA titles Mayweather won a majority decision by scores of 116-112, 117-111 and 114-114 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a junior middleweight unification match waged at a catch-weight of 152 pounds.
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Mayweather shows off his title title belts after Saturday' night's fight.LAS VEGAS--In the end, it was easy money, for Floyd (Money) Mayweather.
Tapping his vast experience and superior skills and speed, Mayweather
dominated the younger and slower Saul (Canelo) Alvarez, maintaining his
perch atop the sport and making a mockery of the idea that Alvarez had
more than a puncher’s chance against Mayweather. He didn’t. Mayweather
boxed masterfully, landing his trademark straight right hand while also
unleashing more combinations that he’s used to throwing against the
23-year-old. It was the easiest $41.5 million he could have made, which
is what Mayweather earned for his brilliant effort, a record purse for a
boxer even if the judge's decision didn't indicate his dominance in
front of an announced crowd of 16,746 fans.
In perhaps his finest performance in years, Mayweather won a majority
decision by scores of 116-112 (Dave Moretti), 117-111 (Craig Metcalfe)
and 114-114 (C.J. Ross), the final score an embarrassment to the sport
on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in a junior middleweight
unification match waged at a catch-weight of 152 pounds for the WBC and
WBA titles in what some dubbed boxing’s version of the Super Bowl on
Mexican Independence Day Weekend on Showtime pay-per-view to hand
Alvarez his first loss. Ross is the same judge who awarded Timothy
Bradley a controversial decision victory over Manny Pacquiao.
“I’m not in control of the judging,” Mayweather said in the ring
afterward. “Canelo is a young, strong champion. Listen, a guy like that
will take the loss and bounce back from it. I’ve been doing this for 17
years and just because I beat him doesn’t mean he won’t still have a
good career. I’m still going strong. I took my time and I think if I had
pressed the attack I could have gotten the stoppage. But there were a
couple of rounds where we kept bumping arms and my arms hurt so I had to
pull back and take my time.”
Now, the greater drama will be to see if the show surpasses the
all-time record for pay-per-view buys, which stands at 2.44 million. It
already produced the all-time record live gate with a reported
$20,003,150 netted.
While the bout didn’t come close to living up to the pre-fight hype,
billed as a chance to crown the sport’s next superstar in Alvarez, it
reaffirmed the notion that Mayweather is still the best boxer of his
generation, and he’s nowhere close to slipping.
Al Bello/Getty Images
Mayweather delivers a blow to Canelo Alvarez's face.
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