Mayweather hits Maidana to unify welterweight belts, Khan triumphs

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (R) of US slams a right to the face of Marcos Maidana from Argentina on May 3, 2014 at The MGM Grand, Las Vegas. Mayweather dominated with a 12 round split decision over Maidana for the WBC,WBA and Ring Magazine Welterweight titles. AFP PHOTO / John GURZINSKI 

In Summary

• Mayweather, who was an 11-1 favourite heading into the fight, received scores of 117-111 and 116-112. The third judge scored it 114-114. Mayweather did not get the decisive victory that so many had predicted as the more aggressive Maidana gave him all he could handle.

By AFP
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Las Vegas
Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather ran his perfect record to 46-0 with a 12-round majority decision over Marcos Maidana in a welterweight world title unification bout on Saturday night.

British star Amir Khan also made a successful debut in the welterweight division, winning a unanimous decision over former champion Luis Collazo at the MGM Grand Hotel.

The 37-year-old American Mayweather retained his World Boxing Council world title and took Maidana’s World Boxing Association belt, winning the fight on two of the three judges’ scorecards, with the third scoring it a draw.

“It was a tough competitive fight tonight,” Mayweather said. “I stayed in there. I wanted to stand and fight. I could have made this fight easy but it would have been boring.”

Mayweather, who was an 11-1 favourite heading into the fight, received scores of 117-111 and 116-112. The third judge scored it 114-114. Mayweather did not get the decisive victory that so many had predicted as the more aggressive Maidana gave him all he could handle.

Gunshot

The event was marred when a large crowd of fans, fearing what they thought was a gunshot, rushed in panic towards the exit. Some two dozen fans were injured in the melee and some were hospitalized. Argentina’s hard-punching Maidana, 30, who was making the first defense of his title, suffered the fourth loss of his career to go with 35 victories.

Maidana was upset with the way the fight was scored, saying he was “robbed” of the decision. “I definitely think I won,” Maidana said. “He didn’t fight like a man. Nobody has ever attacked him the way I did. And nobody has ever landed punches the way I did.”

The 27-year-old Khan, who was fighting for the first time after a 12-month layoff, also knocked Collazo down three times in the non-title fight. Khan looked impressive in the 147-pound (67 kg) division debut, winning on all three judges’ scorecards. Two judges scored it 119-104 while the other had it 117-106. (AFP)