Argentina's Marcos Maidana came close to one of the bigger upsets in recent boxing history on Saturday as he took the fight to Floyd Mayweather for 12 tough rounds before dropping a majority decision.

Mayweather, regarded as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter, retained his unbeaten record (46-0) - but not by much.

Maidana (35-4) swarmed all over the American from the opening bell and gave him perhaps the toughest fight of his 16-year career.

In the end, though, Mayweather got the win and unified the WBC and WBA welterweight titles by scores of 117-111 on one scorecard and 116-112 on another. The third judge had it 114-114.

The Associated Press scored the bout 115-113 for Mayweather.

Maidana threw far more punches, but Mayweather was more accurate as the two battled into the late rounds with the fight still very much in doubt.

Cheered on by a large contingent of Argentine fans, Maidana never retreated from Mayweather, who was cut beside the right eye in the fourth round by an accidental head-butt.

"It was a tough, competitive fight," Mayweather said.

"I normally like to go out there and box and move. But he put pressure on me. I wanted to give the fans what they wanted to see, so I stood and fought him."

Maidana raised his arms in victory when the final bell sounded, and Mayweather watched pensively from his corner as the scorecards were added up before he was declared the winner.

"I won the fight," Maidana said. "He didn't fight like a man."

Punch stats by Compubox showed Mayweather landing 230 of 426 punches to 221 of 858 for Maidana.

It was the most punches landed by any opponent against Mayweather in 38 fights.

"I couldn't see for two rounds after the head-butt," Mayweather said. "After I could see again it didn't both me.

"That's what champions do, they survive and adjust."

Maidana said before the fight he was going to treat Mayweather like any other fighter and go right after him.

He did just that, bringing the sellout crowd at the MGM Grand to its feet as he landed some big overhand right hands to the top of Mayweather's head.

"He never hurt me with a punch," Maidana said. "He wasn't that tough. I thought I won."

Maidana complained about being forced to fight with gloves he didn't want to use when the two camps engaged in a standoff over gloves at the rules meeting a day earlier.

"If I would have had my gloves I would have knocked him out," Maidana said. "They took away my advantage."

Mayweather, who earned at least $32 million for the fight, was a 6-1 betting favorite in his bid to remain unbeaten. He picked Maidana over Amir Khan as an opponent, but now might well be ruing that decision.

Maidana, who was cheered by the crowd as he left the ring, said he wanted a rematch, and promoter Richard Schaefer and Mayweather said he might get one after nearly pulling off a huge upset.

"If the fans want to see it again, let's do it again," Mayweather said.

Floyd Mayweather (right) and Marcos Maidana salute the crowd at the end of their WBC-WBA welterweight title unification bout on Saturday in Las Vegas. Mayweather won by majority decision. Eric Jamison / Associated Press

(China Daily 05/05/2014 page23)