A speedy Mayweather takes Baldomir’s crown

Carlos Baldomir looked like a man trying to catch a fish underwater.

Eyes squinting, breathing heavily, legs looking as if they were shackled by weights, body moving as if it were going against the current, Baldomir would come across the ring in search of Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

His journey was slowed even more by a stinging jab or a body-rattling right uppercut. And by the time Baldomir reached the spot where Mayweather had stood, he was long gone, ready to dance and strut and wait for the next futile charge.

In a totally dominating performance by the man generally recognized as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Mayweather (37-0, 24 knockouts) pitched a shutout on two judges’ scorecards in capturing the World Boxing Council welterweight title held by Baldomir (43-10-6).

Judges John Keane and Chuck Giampa each gave Mayweather the victory 120-108. The third judge, Paul Smith, had it 118-110, giving Baldomir two rounds, although it was difficult in the eyes of most ringside observers to justify giving Baldomir even one round.

Afterward, an emotional Mayweather, 29, said he would retire after his next fight.

“I told you all along it wasn’t about the money, it was about the legacy,” he said. “I’ve accomplished all I want in boxing. I’m going out on top.”

Saturday wasn’t really a fight at all, but more of a one-man show, a virtuoso exhibition by a performer at the top of his game, reminiscent of an Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin or any of the other legendary performers who have come through this town.

It was a disastrous matchup for Baldomir. The plodding, workmanlike Argentine against the dancing Mayweather with his eye-blurring speed offered about as predictable an outcome as there is in boxing. Mayweather has sweated more dancing around a punching bag.

The fight had been named “Pretty Risky,” but the biggest risk Mayweather faced, as it turned out, was trying to get into the ring in the Roman gladiator outfit he wore coming down the aisle, to the delight of the crowd of 9,427.

The only thing that slowed Mayweather was an injury to his right hand suffered in the middle of the fight.

It didn’t change the outcome. Mayweather’s left hand was still better than Baldomir’s right and left.

“I hurt my right hand in the middle of the sixth round,” Mayweather said. “I don’t really know what happened to it, I just knew I hurt it. Until then, I thought I would knock him out down the stretch. I can win under any circumstances. And I am here to stay.”

Mayweather did pause long enough to give Baldomir his due.

“He was resilient,” Mayweather said. “He fought with a lot of heart.”

Baldomir, with blood from a cut in the corner of his left eye and on the bridge of his nose, was philosophical after losing for the first time in eight years, having gone 19-0-2 over that stretch.

“I didn’t fight my fight,” he said. “He was too fast. I couldn’t catch him. And when I did, I just wasn’t strong. I felt sluggish.

“But I had a great year. I beat Zab Judah. I beat Arturo Gatti. And I went up against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”

So don’t cry for Baldomir, Argentina. He got his moment in the in the international spotlight. And he got $1.6 million for his efforts.

Mayweather got $8 million plus a percentage of the pay-per-view.

But that figures to pale in comparison with what he could get in his next match if a proposed blockbuster fight against Oscar De La Hoya indeed happens.

“After tonight,” Mayweather said, “if he wants me, he knows how to reach me.”

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In the semi-main event, challenger Orlando Salido (28-9-2, 18) beat champion Robert Guerrero (19-2-1, 12) on a unanimous decision to win the International Boxing Federation featherweight title.

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In a preliminary match, welterweight Paul Williams improved his unbeaten record to 32-0 with 24 knockouts by stopping Santos Pakau (27-4-1, 10) at the 2:16 mark of the sixth round of a scheduled eight-rounder.

Williams knocked Pakau down in the first and second round. By the time referee Joe Cortez mercifully ended the match, Pakau’s nose was bloody and his right eye was swollen.

steve.springer@latimes.com