Just another $41.5m day at office for Floyd
Fighting off his shortest layoff in years, Mayweather was sharp, efficient and sometimes brutal in dismantling an unbeaten fighter who was bigger and was supposed to punch harder.
He frustrated Alvarez early, pounded him with big right hands in the middle rounds, and made him look just like he said he would — like any other opponent.
Mayweather was favoured 117-111 and 116-112 on two ringside scorecards while a third inexplicably had the fight 114-114.
“I just listened to my corner, listened to my dad,” Mayweather said. “My dad had a brilliant game plan, and I went out there and got the job done.”
Mayweather remained unbeaten in 45 fights and added another piece of the junior middleweight title to his collection in a fight that was fought at a 152-pound limit.
Alvarez weighed in at that weight, but was heavier when he got into the ring while Mayweather, who weighed in at 150½ pounds, was an even 150.
The extra weight did Alvarez no good and the punching power that brought him 30 knockouts in 43 fights wasn’t a help either.
The Mexican star was seldom able to land a solid punch, with most of his punches either missing or glancing off his opponent.
“No doubt he’s a great fighter, a very intelligent fighter,” Alvarez said. “There was no solution for him.”
Mayweather said he actually had to put on weight during the day to even get close to what he weighed the day before.
“When I woke up this morning, I was 146 pounds, so I had to call my chef and get something in my system,” he said.
Mayweather’s speed was the difference all night as he was able to land straight rights and left jabs, then get out of the way before Alvarez was able to respond.
But while Mayweather used great defence, he wasn’t afraid to attack often and at different angles, finding Alvarez with punches he couldn’t anticipate.
“He’s very talented, very elusive,” Alvarez said.
When it was over, Mayweather didn’t even celebrate, walking over to a corner to look at the crowd. Just another payday, just another win for ‘Money May’. The only surprise came when it was announced the decision wasn’t unanimous, with judge CJ Ross scoring it even.
“I didn’t know how to get him, it’s extremely simple,” Alvarez said. “He’s a great fighter, very intelligent. The frustration was getting in there, but he’s a great fighter. We tried to catch him.”
Alvarez said before the fight he had the game plan to solve Mayweather’s tricky defence and fast hands. If it failed, he said, he had other plans he would implement to win the fight. But he had no plan that worked once he got into the ring and found out just how difficult Mayweather can be.
The sellout crowd of 16,746 at the MGM Grand on Mexican independence weekend tried their best to urge Alvarez (42-1-1) on, but the cheers of ‘Canelo! Canelo!’ were faint and wistful by the late rounds on a night Mayweather solidified his claim to being one of the best ever and padded his bank account in a way no other fighter has ever done.
The fight was one of the richest ever — if not the richest ever — with a live gate of $20m (€15m) and at least another $100m (€75m) from pay-per-view.
Tickets were so hot that celebrities were actually offering to buy them and some tickets were being offered online for as much as $29,000 (€21,800).
Mayweather was the big beneficiary of that, making a guaranteed $41.5m (€31.2m) to $5m (€3.7m) for Alvarez. Add in his purse from his win over Robert Guererro in May and Mayweather made $73m (€55m) in two fights — easily making him the highest-paid athlete in the United States.
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