The 38 year-old, who announced that the fight would be his last some time ago, used his superior defensive skills to avoid taking a large percentage of Berto’s shots and got off with his own jab time and again to take the rounds.
Berto tried in vain to make a contest of it but only enjoyed good rounds in the seventh and tenth as Mayweather controlled the pace to see out a wide decision on the three judges’ scorecards.
At several points in the fight, Mayweather clowned around either dancing, shaking his head, winking at the crowd or smirking as Berto predictably found the five-weight world champion too hard a conundrum to figure out.
A couple of heavy exchanges had the arena on their feet during the contest, although all in all the bout was just another routine win for the man who doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘lose’.
After twelve rounds, Mayweather took the win 120-108, 118-110, 117-111 and heads into retirement level with heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano on 49-0 following what was his 26th world title fight.
The guessing game will now begin as to when, rather than if the world’s premier boxer launches a comeback to gain that coveted 50th win in 2016.
An emotional Mayweather was adamant he would not return when speaking to Showtime’s Jim Gray post-fight.
