Floyd Mayweather to retire after beating Andre Berto

Floyd Mayweather equalled former heavyweight great Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record with a unanimous decision victory over Andre Berto before promptly announcing his retirement.

Mayweather, who repeated his insistence in the build-up that this bout would be his last, was the heavy betting favourite and unsurprisingly dominated his overmatched foe to retain his WBC and WBA welterweight titles.

Scores of 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111 took the five-weight world champion, almost universally regarded as the pound-for-pound best in the sport, to his 49th consecutive victory in the professional ranks.

Yet the 38-year-old seems to have no desire to reach a half-century as he said in his in-ring interview: “My career is over, that’s official.

“You’ve got to know when to hang it up. I’m close to 40 now. There’s nothing left to prove in the sport of boxing. Now I just want to spend time with my family”

Many pundits are sceptical of Mayweather, who has announced his intention to walk away from the sport in the past only to make a comeback, most notably returning to face Juan Manuel Marquez in July 2009 21 months after 'retiring' following his knockout of Ricky Hatton.