By Tim Fletcher: Unbeaten WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (49-0, 26 KOs) easily beat a sluggish and shot looking Andre Berto (30-4, 23 KOs) by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night on the Showtime pay-per-view card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 118-110 and 120-108.
By Allan Fox: Unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) will be ending his 19-year pro career on a low note tonight in his final title defense against 32-year-old former two division world champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) in a fight that few boxing fans want to watch on Showtime pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather still has the popularity to bring in a lot of pay-per-view buys even against a weak opponent like Andre Berto. But that doesn’t mean that the boxing community are overjoyed to see Mayweather take on a soft opponent in a PPV bout that will cost $75 for fans to see on high definition on Showtime PPV.
By Dan Ambrose: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) is promising to push the limits when he battles Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) in what the 38-year-old Mayweather has been selling as the last fight of his 19-year pro career. Whether that’s actually true or not remains to be see. But it will be interesting if Mayweather fights in a more aggressive manner tonight instead of playing it safe like he did in his last fight against Manny Pacquiao on May 2nd of this year.
Mayweather put the blame squarely on Pacquiao’s shoulders for that fight failing to live up to the billing, but it’s pretty clear that it was Mayweather who was the one who failed to come to fight.
By Dan Ambrose: In an interview this week, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) made it clear that he can’t fight IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) because he’s a 160 pound fighter. Mayweather didn’t want any part of fighting Golovkin at 154, when asked if he would be willing to fight the Kazakhstan fighter at that weight.
Mayweather says he fights at 147, and that’s he’s already done enough for the sport of boxing without having to move up one weight class to fight Golovkin at 154.
By Jim Dower: WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) successfully weighed in on Friday at the weigh-in in coming in at 146 pounds for his fight on Saturday night against 32-year-old Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 5’6 1/2″ Berto weighed in at a very lean looking 145 pounds.
By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs) has reportedly signed a multi-year contract extension with Golden Boy Promotions. It’s unclear whether it’s the best deal for the 25-year-old Canelo, because he probably would have fetched a big price if he’d been willing to put himself on the market so that the other promotional companies like Roc Nation Sports, Top Rank, and K2 could have bid for his services.
Canelo has already been with Golden Boy for years now, and has had one big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. during all that time.
By Jim Dower: Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) has the opportunity of a lifetime in front of him this Saturday night in his title challenge against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) in their clash in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Berto, 31, is a big underdog in this fight in dealing with the No.1 fighter in boxing, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Berto feels like he’s been upsetting the odds his entire 11-year career and he plans on doing the same thing tomorrow night when he’s in the ring with the 38-year-old Mayweather at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By Jim Dower: In a huge pay cut, Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) will be making a guarantee of $32 million for his title defense against Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) this Saturday night on Showtime pay-per-view. This is down from the $250 million that Mayweather made for his last fight against Manny Pacquiao last May.
Mayweather could be making more for his next fight if he had selected an opponent that the boxing world is interested in seeing him fight like Gennady Golovkin. It would probably take someone like Golovkin for Mayweather to get a significant bump up in pay.
By Joshua Broom: My prediction for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. 38, (48-0 26 KO) vs. Andre Berto 32, (30-3 23 KO) fight to be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this Saturday night is probably just like most, a decisive Mayweather victory.
But unlike some, I actually expect the former 2-time welterweight titilist Berto to have his moments early on in the contest. I’m predicting the 32 year-old Berto to come out gallantly swinging for the fences in the first 3 rounds before Floyd’s legendary boxing radar allows him to pick up on Berto’s rhythm and pick him apart en route to a late stoppage victory.
By Joshua Broom: With Saturday night’s bout against a vastly overmatched Andre Berto (30-3 23 KO), pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0 26 KO) will be riding off into the sunset of a brilliant career.
I would venture to say I summed up Mayweather’s 19 year professional career in articulate fashion in my piece “Mayweather’s Legacy”, so I won’t use this article as a platform to delve into the specifics of Floyd’s 3 decades as an in ring competitor.