The Champ: Floyd Mayweather retains title: Floyd Mayweather beats Marcos Maidana.

Floyd Mayweather boxed his way to a 47th straight victory with one good hand over the last four rounds after complaining that Marcos Maidana bit his left, a call with which nearly everyone in the arena but the Argentinian and his camp agreed.

More significant than the validity of the claim, however , and it looked incriminating on several slow-motion replays –was Mayweather’s assertion afterwards that he is prepared to negotiate a fight with Manny Pacquiao. “I’m going to talk to my team and, if the Pacquiao [fight] presents itself, let’s make it happen,” he said.

He did not say if the Filipino would be his next opponent, in May 2015, but it is at least looking more likely than at any time in the past five years. That leaves Amir Khan, who arrived in Las Vegas in the late afternoon after overcoming visa problems – apparently with the help of David Cameron – again wondering if he will get the fight Mayweather first promised him last December.

In this reprise of the closer but no less dramatic first meeting between Mayweather and Maidana in the same ring in May, the champion was better served by the judges, winning 115-112 and 116-111 twice, a fair reflection of the gap between the fighters. I agreed with the first of those scores.

The low point was the biting incident  the most high-profile in boxing since Mike Tyson’s infamous chomp on Evander Holyfield’s ear (both of the former champions were ringside) – and Maidana’s protestation of innocence was unconvincing.
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“He thinks I’m a dog,” the loser said, “but I never bit him. I thought I won the fight but, if the judges want to give it to someone who runs, good luck to him. No, no, I didn't bite him. Maybe he put his glove in my mouth.” As the-dog-ate-my-homework excuses go, that one was up there.

Mayweather saw it differently: “At first I didn’t know what had happened but then I realised that he bit me. My fingers went numb after the eighth round. I could only really use the other hand. He’s a tough opponent. I was sharper in the first fight, much better. I give myself maybe a C, a C-minus. I’m better than that. I got hit with shots I shouldn’t have gotten hit with. I’m staying busy. In the past I fought once a year, now it’s twice a year, a lot better.”

Mayweather was being a little hard on himself. After a nervous start, he hit some peaks of excellence other fighters can only dream about, although there must still be a few doubts about his speed.