Once all the controversy about Floyd Mayweather’s personal life and what gloves Marcos Maidana could or could not use in the fight subsided, the real drama of “The Moment” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night took place in the squared circle as the two brawled it out for 12 rounds before Mayweather won a majority decision on the judges’ scorecards.

Both camps nearly came to an impasse over what gloves to use before the fight. The Nevada commission would not green light Maidana’s custom-made Everlast MX gloves due to the way the padding was dispersed in the glove, and he ended up using an alternate pair.

Maidana’s reputation was bolstered by his tenacious display, during which he showed scant respect for the pound-for-pound king and manhandled him on the ropes and lampooned him with clubbing overhand rights (he even got away with several low blows, much to Mayweather’s chagrin). Mayweather was cut by an accidental headbutt in the fourth round, and over the fight he was hit 221 times, a record in the 38 of his fights that have been covered by Compubox. However, he battled through this and displayed an almost surgical punching accuracy over the fight. The 37-year-old came on strong in the second half of the fight and did enough to win a majority decision on the judges’ scorecard (114-114, 117-111 and 116-112).

The chances of a rematch are very strong as this has been arguably the closest that Mayweather has been really challenged since his first fight with Joe Luis Castillo way back in 1996. When asked in the ring after the fight if he would grant Maidana a rematch, Mayweather, who is now (45-0, 26 KOs), repeated the following several times: “If the fans want to see it again, we do it again.” Maidana, (35-4, 31KOs), told the media after the fight that while Mayweather dominated some rounds, he felt that he dominated more.

Check out some photos and reaction from Twitter:

Maidana, a man’s man, was succinct and to the point when giving his thought on what he would like next:

The right hand was Mayweather’s ticket to victory on the night

One of the most interesting tweets of the night came post-fight from the great man himself:

Photo courtesy of Showtime