Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Andre Berto

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather completed the 49th contest of his unbeaten professional career by outpointing Andre Berto over 12 rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Before a crowd of 13,395, the 38-year-old champion retained his welterweight titles by scores of 120–108, 118–110 and 117–111. Adalaide Byrd gave Mayweather every round, Steve Weisfeld awarded Berto two, and Dave Moretti allowed the challenger three. Mayweather weighed 146lb and Berto 145lb, with Kenny Bayless acting as referee.

The match followed the expected pattern. Berto, a former welterweight champion but beaten three times in his previous six contests, required sustained pressure if he was to unsettle Mayweather. He advanced from the opening round, occasionally leading with the right hand and attempting to follow with hooks. Mayweather gave ground without surrendering control. He measured Berto with the left, changed direction before the challenger could set his feet and countered with straight rights or quick lead hooks. There was no knockdown, nor did Mayweather appear in danger of one.

Berto increased his efforts during the second and third rounds, jabbing his way forward and trying to crowd Mayweather near the ropes. His approach produced activity but little clean work. Mayweather blocked punches with his shoulders and forearms, caught others on his gloves and tied Berto up whenever the distance became uncomfortable. On separating, he was usually first to strike. Rights to the body and head kept Berto from advancing in a straight line, while the champion’s left hook often arrived as the challenger was stepping in.

The fourth and fifth rounds contained some of Berto’s better work. He drove Mayweather backwards, made the contest untidy and found occasional punches to the body at close quarters. Moretti gave Berto the fifth, while Weisfeld awarded him the fourth. Yet even during these spells, Berto had difficulty keeping Mayweather in position long enough to assemble a combination. The champion either turned away from the ropes or held until Bayless ordered a break. When the men worked at middle distance, Mayweather’s shorter, more accurate punches were plainly superior.

Mayweather became busier in the sixth. He struck Berto with body punches, a left uppercut and a right hand, then stepped aside before the reply. Berto continued to press in the seventh and did enough to win the round on Moretti’s card, but his attacks were increasingly predictable. He often followed Mayweather rather than cutting off the ring, allowing the champion to circle towards open space. In the eighth, Mayweather landed a left uppercut and followed it with a rapid combination. Berto answered with a countering left, but isolated successes could not alter the direction of the contest.

The ninth was another of Berto’s more effective rounds and was awarded to him by Moretti and Weisfeld. He worked behind the jab, went to the body and kept closer to Mayweather for longer periods. The champion nevertheless remained composed and resumed command in the tenth. By then the boxing had been accompanied by an exchange of words. After repeated talking between the fighters, Bayless called time and told both to stop talking, later warning that a point might be deducted if it continued. It was an unusual interruption, though it provided more uncertainty than the punches had done.

Mayweather finished with greater freedom. In the 11th, he landed a sharp lead left hook, drove home an uppercut and put together one of his cleanest combinations of the contest. He lowered his hands, moved around Berto and addressed members of the crowd while the challenger continued to pursue him. The last round began with the fighters embracing, after which Berto returned to the attack. Mayweather caught him with a right following a break and later landed several uppercuts, one of which brought the crowd to its feet. He then moved clear during the closing seconds and raised his arms at the bell.

Berto had remained willing throughout, but willingness alone could not overcome the difference in timing, judgement of distance and defensive skill. The challenger landed only a small proportion of his punches and was repeatedly made to start again after his attacks were checked. Mayweather did not seek a sustained exchange when a single counter and a change of position were sufficient. The resulting contest offered little drama, but the decision admitted no argument.

After the verdict, Mayweather knelt in the centre of the ring before announcing his retirement. The victory equalled Rocky Marciano’s celebrated 49–0 record, although Mayweather’s retirement did not prove permanent. On this evening, however, he left the ring with his titles, his unbeaten record and scarcely a mark upon him, having concluded another defence with the same economy that had governed much of his career.

I never believed Andre Berto had earned a fight with Floyd Mayweather. He had been an exciting welterweight champion and his battles with Victor Ortiz and Robert Guerrero made good television, but three defeats in six fights told the truth. Mayweather had just beaten Manny Pacquiao and chose a manageable opponent for what he claimed would be his farewell.

Berto’s only realistic chance was to make the contest physical. He pressed forward, tried to rough Mayweather up and looked for hooks at close range. The trouble was his feet. He followed Floyd instead of cutting off the ring, so he was forever arriving half a second too late.

Mayweather controlled him with distance and timing. He drew Berto’s lead, stepped outside it and answered with the straight right, left hook or uppercut. Whenever Berto reached the inside, Floyd used his shoulder and forearm, tied him up and waited for the referee to separate them. It was not exciting, but it was intelligent boxing.

Berto kept trying and deserves respect for that. He lacked the variation needed to make Mayweather uncomfortable. By the closing rounds, Floyd was dropping his hands, talking, dancing and playing to the crowd because he knew Berto could not punish him.

The wide decision was completely fair. Mayweather did not produce a memorable farewell, but he gave another clinical demonstration of why good fighters so often looked ordinary against him. He made Berto fight at the wrong distance all night, and Berto never solved it.