Mayweather edges out Maidana on a majority decision
Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s) defeated Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KO’s) by a 12 round majority decision on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The final judges’ scores were 114-114, 117-111, and 116-112.
The 37-year-old retained his WBC welterweight title and added the WBA crown to his collection. However, aggressive Argentine Maidana gave Mayweather a tougher fight than many expected and even looked to be getting the better of the bout after the first six rounds.
Mayweather pulled away in the second half of the fight, but the fact that both Maidana and many of his fans in attendance were adamant he won shows how competitive the contest was.
Maidana came charging out of the blocks and an early onslaught had Mayweather backing up in the opening round, while another furious flurry in the third once again gave the outsider the upper hand.
Mayweather appeared stunned by his opponent's start and although the American suffered a rare cut in the fourth round – seemingly via an unintentional headbutt - he gradually found his range.
Maidana kept coming forward but his wild swings did not land with the regularity they had earlier in the fight and Mayweather began to pick him off.
The resurgent Mayweather backed his opponent up with strong shots on a couple of occasions but neither fighter came close to forcing a stoppage.
Punch statistics showed that the Argentine threw over 400 more blows than his opponent but landed nine fewer, with Mayweather’s trademark accuracy shining through despite a subdued workrate.
"It was a tough, competitive fight. I normally like to go out there and box and move. But he put pressure on me,” Mayweather said.
“I wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see so I stood and fought him."
"I won the fight. He didn't fight like a man," Maidana, who was angry at not being able to use his preferred horsehair-filled gloves, told Showtime.
Britain's Amir Khan scored a convincing points win over Luis Collazo on the undercard.
Khan, who was fighting for the first time in over a year, knocked down his experienced and durable opponent three times en route to a comfortable unanimous decision.
Khan improved his record to 29-3 and, after a shaky win over Julio Diaz and losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, put in his most accomplished performance for three years.
The 27-year-old used his significant reach advantage to keep Collazo at bay early on and momentarily stunned the New Yorker with a straight right in the second round.
Collazo attempted to cut off the ring but was caught out off-balance in the fourth and crashed to the canvas after shipping another right.
A cut appeared above Collazo's eye at the start of the seventh and the veteran welterweight, who came close to beating Ricky Hatton in 2006, was deducted a point in the eighth for a low punch.
But it was in that same round when Khan showed some of his old vulnerabilities after being hurt by Collazo and then penalised a point for holding.
Khan found a superb reponse and knocked Collazo down twice in the 10th, first from a succession of body punches and then from a crisp one-two.
Collazo barely survived the round but did manage to see things through to the final bell after sending Khan to the canvas with a low blow.
"Styles make fights and I really believe I have the style to trouble Floyd Mayweather," Khan told Showtime in his post-fight interview.
"Collazo has been beaten but it was always a really close fight against (Shane) Mosley and (Andre) Berto."
He added: "One thing about me training with Virgil Hunter. He taught me some things and I put them together tonight.”
Other results on the card:
J'Leon Love W Marco Antonio Periban UD 10
Adrien Broner W Carlos Molina UD 10
Anthony Ogogo W Jonel Tapia TKO 3
Ronald Gavril W Tyrell Hendrix TKO 4
Ashley Theophane W Angino Perez TKO 4
Andrew Omotunde Tabiti W John Shipman TKO 4
Lanell Bellows W Thomas Gifford TKO 2
Ladarius Miller W Richard Colas Quesada TKO 3