Las Vegas – Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanted to give Oscar De La Hoya a beating. He had to settle for just getting a win.
Mayweather won one of boxing’s richest fights Saturday night by using his superb defensive skills and superior speed to take a 12-round split decision and win the WBC 154-pound title in his first fight at that weight.
The fight was billed as one that would save boxing. While it didn’t do that, it was an entertaining battle between two proud champions who fought hard from the opening bell through the end of the final round.
The fight ended with the sellout crowd on its feet, roaring, and two fighters trading punches wildly at the final bell. They then stopped and embraced each other.
Mayweather was favored on one scorecard 116-112 and 115-113 on a second. De La Hoya was ahead 115-113 on the third scorecard.
“It was easy work for me,” Mayweather said. “He was rough and tough but he couldn’t beat the best.”
In the end, Mayweather was faster and more slippery in a bout in which neither fighter managed to hurt the other and neither went down.
Ringside punching stats favored Mayweather heavily, crediting him with landing 207-of-481 punches to 122-of-587 for De La Hoya.
Mayweather also landed more power punches than De La Hoya, outscoring him 138-82.
The sellout crowd of 16,200 at the MGM Grand Garden arena cheered everything De La Hoya did, and booed when the decision was announced. It was the third loss in the past five fights for De La Hoya, who also served as the promoter for the bout.
Mayweather had predicted he would dominate De La Hoya and give him a beating, but De La Hoya took his best punches and came back with enough of his own to make it a close fight.
“I landed the harder, crisper punches,” De La Hoya said. “I felt when I landed my punches I could see I was hurting him. ”
De La Hoya appeared staggered by a right hand with 20 seconds left in the fight, but finished with a flurry as the crowd cheered in delight.
Mayweather remained unbeaten in 38 fights and won a title in his fifth weight class, moving up from welterweight to challenge De La Hoya in a fight that earned De La Hoya at least $25 million and Mayweather at least $10 million.
The $19 million live gate was a record for the sport, and there were predictions the pay- per-view sales would make the fight boxing’s richest ever.
The money, though, didn’t matter once Mayweather climbed into the ring wearing a sombrero, mocking De La Hoya’s Mexican-American heritage on Cinco de Mayo.
