Floyd Mayweather beats Andre Berto, says 'I am done'
Five-division world champion defends two welterweight title belts, walks away from 19-year career with historic 19-0 record
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3 min read
If Saturday night’s fight with Andre Berto was the first time you saw Floyd Mayweather Jr. in a boxing ring, you might have come away with mixed feelings. He didn’t linger in prolonged exchanges. He didn’t land consciousness-altering shots. And he didn’t rise from the canvas to simply will himself to a victory.
But what he did do is what he’s always done, which is blend precision punching with maddening elusiveness while frustrating a would-be fearsome opponent into comparative timidity.
And the record now shows that he does it as well as it’s ever been done.
Mayweather won nine, 10 and 12 rounds across three official scorecards to earn a unanimous decision that both kept his WBA and WBC welterweight title belts in the family, but served as a fitting swan song.
“It’s official. I am done,” he said, moments after the verdict that boosted his unblemished mark to 49-0, equaling Rocky Marciano’s version of baseball’s 56-game hit streak and apparently confirming to the record’s 21st-century shareholder that he’s got nothing left to prove within a 20 x 20 roped square.
“I’ve accomplished everything in this sport. There’s nothing left to accomplish,” Mayweather said. “You have to know when to hang it up. I’m knocking at the door. I’m close to 40 years old.”
An Olympic medalist as a 19-year-old and a first-time pro champion by age 21, the Michigan native-turned-Las Vegas icon climbed the ladder with title wins at 130, 135 and 140 pounds, then spent the last nine years hopscotching between 147 and 154 pounds while becoming the sport’s richest fighter.
He defeated generational rival Manny Pacquiao in a so-called Fight of the Century in May and afterward insisted that he’d quit after one more, though few took that claim seriously until the Berto aftermath – when Mayweather dropped to his knees in the ring and appeared emotional in post-fight interviews.
“My 49-0 record is a part of boxing. Records are made to be broken,” he said.
“Hopefully, someday we can find the next Floyd Mayweather. Records are made to be broken. Now it’s time to spend time with my family and children, make sure they get the proper education. I also want to help the fighters under the Mayweather Promotions banner.”
Truth told, though, on Saturday it did look like he could be capable of continuing.
Armed with advantages in height, reach and speed – edges he possesses over many welterweights and some junior middleweights – Mayweather alternated Saturday between pressing the action and allowing Berto to come to him.
He was effective leading off combinations with jabs or quick left hooks, but he was also able to fluster his 32-year-old opponent both with movement and the uncanny ability to be within arm’s length, but remain unhittable.
Berto was given the fourth and ninth rounds on one scorecard and the fifth, seventh and ninth on another, but never strung together anything that resembled momentum. He had brief moments in close and along the ropes, and never seemed ready to surrender, but never came close to competing either.
Final punch stats indicated Mayweather connected on 57 percent of his overall punches (232 or 410) and 68 percent of his power shots (149 of 219), while averaging a shade more than 34 punches thrown per round – not too far from his career-long average of 39 per round. Meanwhile, the Berto who promised consistent aggression landed just 83 of 495 shots (17 percent), averaging just 41.25 shots.
“Experience played a big part in the fight,” Berto said.
“I was in shape for the fight, he was just difficult to hold onto. He’s slippery. I used a lot of speed, but he’s real crafty. He was using little things to get me off my rhythm. The game plan was to bring the pressure and interrupt what he was trying to do. He knows how to con his way in certain situations to keep his distance or to use that movement to get some rest time. He’s just smart, really smart.
“You get in a mode sometimes and you just want to catch his ass, and get him out. To be 38 years old and to still have that speed and still have that timing, it’s unheard of.”
