Las Vegas - Floyd Mayweather captured the super welterweight unified world title with a majority decision over Mexico's Saul Alvarez on Saturday at the MGM Grand Hotel.
The 36-year-old extended his winning streak to 45 straight fights as he earned the biggest purse in boxing history at $41 million.
Mayweather fought a brilliant tactical fight, using his jab and superior hand speed to keep Alvarez at bay, but he still only managed to win on two of the three judge's scorecards.
One judge surprisingly scored it a draw, 117-117, while the other two had it 117-111 and 116-112 in favour of Mayweather.
This was just the second fight for Mayweather since he was released from prison after serving a sentence for assaulting the mother of his children.
Mayweather gave away 13 years in age and 15 pounds to the younger and stronger Alvarez, who moved down in weight for the showdown.
The seventh was one of Mayweather's best rounds as he landed several combination punches early before backing Alvarez up into a corner and hitting him with a right uppercut that snapped the Mexican's head back.
Sapa-AFP