Mayweather defeats De La Hoya

Floyd Mayweather Jr. controlled the later rounds Saturday night in his mega fight with Oscar De La Hoya, and was ultimately rewarded for his domination with a split-decision victory in front of a sold-out arena at the MGM Grand.

Mayweather captured the WBC light middleweight title, the fifth weight class in which he has held a world championship belt.

Chuck Giampi saw the fight, 116-112, for Mayweather, while Jerry Roth also scored it for Mayweather at 115-113. Tom Kaczmarcek ruled for De La Hoya, 115-113, but it was apparent to most observers that Mayweather controlled the fight for a majority of the night.

"He threw a lot of punches but they weren't landing," Mayweather said.

"I outpunched him, I outboxed him. He was rough, he was tough, but he couldn't beat me."

Mayweather (38-0, 24 knockouts) showed vulnerability for arguably the first time in his career, especially when defending against De La Hoya's jab, but he had more stamina in remaining undefeated.

As expected, Mayweather was more elusive and faster and simply too much for the 34-year-old De La Hoya (38-5, 30 knockouts) to handle.

"I thought I landed crisper punches," De La Hoya said. "If I didn't press the fight there would be no fight. I hurt him with a few punches that I know he felt."

Both fighters hinted afterwards about retirement, and Mayweather told HBO he was finished.

"I have nothing else to prove," Mayweather said. "I have made a ton of money from this sport."