Mayweather vs Alvarez: Money Doesn't Need KOs to Keep Winning

The fight between Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez went all 12 rounds on Saturday night, and Money is just fine with that.

It was yet another win that went the distance for Mayweather, but it surprisingly wasn't a unanimous decision. Two judges had the fight scored at 117-111 and 116-112, while another strangely had the fight as a draw at 114-114.  

This marked the first time that Money didn't win by knockout or unanimous decision since his fight against Oscar De La Hoya was back in 2007.

Regardless, Mayweather has no problem dragging fights out until the end and coming away with easy wins. In his last six fights, just one victory has come by way of knockout. That fight was against Victor Ortiz in 2011, taking him down in the fourth round.

Mayweather isn't what you would call a knockout fighter.

Yes, 26 of his wins have come from knockouts, but he prefers to win fights by using his incredible speed and strong defense to slowly manhandle his opponent—just like he did in this fight.

Even though he was going up against a powerful fighter that was significantly bigger than him in the ring, Floyd was able to completely negate Canelo's strength thanks to his incredible defense. He did a great job moving his head and using his feet to move around the ring.

At times, he was so good that it looked like he knew what Alvarez was going to throw before he did.

A report from the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com) explained just how truly tough it can be for a fighter going up against Mayweather.

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Alvarez was supposed to be Mayweather's greatest challenge and he did his best to force the action. Like others, though, he couldn't solve the puzzle that is Mayweather and spent much of his night punching at an opponent who had already moved away from him.

"I didn't know how to get him, it's extremely simple," Alvarez said. "He's a great fighter, very intelligent. The frustration was getting in there, but he's a great fighter. We tried to catch him."

Alvarez said before the fight that he had the game plan to solve Mayweather's tricky defense and fast hands. If it failed, he said, he had other game plans he would implement to win the fight.

But he had no plan that worked once he got into the ring and found out just how difficult Mayweather can be.

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Defense can translate into offense with counter punches, and Mayweather did a great job of that as well—just like he always does. There weren't any truly devastating counters, but there were some very solid ones. One of his nicer ones came in the third round and might have helped him win the round.

He may not pack the knockout punches that someone like Lucas Matthysse does, but Mayweather makes up for it by using his incredible speed and defense.

That's what makes him the undisputed greatest boxer alive.