Mayweather Dominates Berto, Moves To 49-0

Ross Kelly, CBS Local Sports

In a fight that went as many expected, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KO) defeated Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KO) by unanimous decision to move to 49-0. In the final fight of his Showtime contract, and what he has called the final fight of his career, Money May dominated throughout and won 117-111, 118-110, and 120-108.

This fight mirrored most of the fights of Floyd's career. Berto wasn't really able to get much of anything against whom many consider to be the greatest defensive fighter of all time. As with the case with Manny Pacquiao, Berto attempted to create activity but there wasn't much action attached to it. At least Berto didn't say he thought he won the fight afterwards. On offense, Mayweather was systematic, efficient, and (unsurprisingly) very conservative. Floyd was in control so much so that in between rounds he was dancing to the in-arena music while walking to his stool:

There was a mini-controversy in the third round when Mayweather went to the mat, but it was only deemed a slip and not a knockdown. If the ref had ruled it a knockdown, it would have been just the second of Mayweather's career. The first, and only, came in 2001 vs. Carlos Hernandez.

In the fifth round Berto seemed to grow more frustrated with not being able to get real contact on Floyd. Berto delivered what seemed to be an obvious low blow while tangled up with Floyd but wasn't docked a point. Berto may have had the will to fight Floyd but his skill was just not up to par.

By the tenth round the chatter between the fighters, which was limited leading up to the fight, reached its peak as Mayweather told Berto to shut up mid-round which prompted the ref to call a timeout and say "Stop the chatter."

In the eleventh Floyd was relishing the fact that he was on his way to 49-0 and started gesturing and pumping up the crowd. He then danced a bit and did the "Ali shuffle" prior to the penultimate bell of his career.

The final round was basically Floyd's victory lap as he delivered some headshots to Berto and it appeared he could have finished him off with a knockout. But Berto was able to withstand the blows and didn't go down. After not getting the knockout, Floyd coasted for the rest of the round and after the final bell rang, Floyd dropped to his knees in the center of the ring and looked up to the heavens.

As he's said for the last two years, Floyd maintained that this was his last fight and re-iterated that in the post-fight interview. Speaking to Jim Gray, Floyd reminded everyone that he's almost 40 and it's time to step aside for the younger fighters:

"Hopefully we can find the next Floyd Mayweather to break my records...There's nothing else to accomplish in the sport."

The Vegas crowd didn't seem to be that much into the fight and it was arguably even less entertaining than the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. On social media it was pretty much a consensus that it was a snoozefest and some were saying that they're glad Mayweather is retiring so they don't have to watch his boring fights anymore. Nevertheless, Mayweather did what he's paid to do: he won the fight, convincingly, and also banked about $32 million in the process.

At 49-0 Floyd now equals the record of Rocky Marciano but Floyd has maintained all along that he will not go for number 50. Floyd has also left fans wanting more: 'He should be more aggressive in the ring. He should go for more knockouts. He should fight more worthy opponents.' Now, we all want more fights from Floyd. Maybe this was Floyd's plan all along and he's proven time and time again that he won't necessarily give in to what people want. If this truly was the last we will see Floyd in the ring (and I'm in doubt), then it was an anti-climactic ending to what was a truly extraordinary career.

Ross Kelly is an Associated Producer for CBS Local Sports. He is from Louisiana and is a fan of all sports, but not of any teams (except LSU). He can be reached at ross.kelly@cbs.com.

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