Mayweather wins 'the fight of the century'

NEW YORK

American boxing great Floyd Mayweather has defeated Manny Pacquiao on Saturday night in the highest-grossing bout in history.

Mayweather won the the long-anticipated match at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas with a unanimous verdict with scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 116-112, stretching his undefeated record to to 48-0.

"He is a hell of a fighter. I take my hat off to Manny Pacquiao," Mayweather said after the win. "I knew he was going to push me and win some rounds. I wasn't being hit with a lot of shots until I sit in a pocket and he landed a lot of shots."

Commentators said the accuracy rate of punches was the key, as the winner landed 34 percent of his total punches while Pacquiao only hit his target 19 percent of the time.

Billed as "the Fight of the Century," the match was estimated to generate approximately $400 million dollars. Mayweather was expected to earn at least $180 million and Pacquiao $120 million, depending on pay-per-view revenue from several million American households.

With the victory, Mayweather, 38, retained his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles and claimed the World Boxing Organization title from the 36-year-old Philippine fighter.

The 16,000-strong sellout crowd included celebrities and sporting legends such as Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley, as well as boxing great Mike Tyson.

Mayweather said last week that he would retire after one more bout. His unbeaten record stretches back to 1996.