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LAS VEGAS, Nev. Carsen Edwards Jersey . - It might have been the toughest $32 million Floyd Mayweather Jr. ever made. Marcos Maidana did everything Saturday night but beat Mayweather, taking him 12 tough rounds before losing a majority decision. Mayweather remained unbeaten, but not by much. Maidana swarmed all over him from the opening bell and gave him perhaps his toughest fight in a 16-year professional career. Cut over his eye and temporarily blinded by a head butt in the fourth round, Mayweather had to rally in the last half of the fight to avoid losing for the first time since he was beaten on a controversial decision in the 1996 Olympics. In the end, though, Mayweather got the win — just as he did in his previous 45 fights in a decision that was met with disbelief by Maidana and booed heavily by the crowd. He retained his welterweight title by winning 117-111 on one scorecard and 116-112 on another. A third judge had it even at 114-114. The Associated Press scored it for Mayweather 115-113. Maidana threw far more punches, but Mayweather was more accurate with his 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 took the fight to Mayweather, who was cut by 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 think I won the fight," Maidana said. "He didnt 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 fighter against Mayweather in 38 fights where punch stats were compiled. Maidana had a big lead in the early rounds through his constant aggression. But Mayweather won five of the last seven rounds on two scorecards and six of seven on a third to pull out the win by a narrow margin. "I couldnt see for two rounds after the head butt," Mayweather said. "After I could see again it didnt both me. Thats what champions do, they survive and adjust." Maidana had 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 hotel to its feet as he landed some big overhand right hands to the top of Mayweathers head. "He never hurt me with a punch," Maidana said. "He wasnt that tough, I thought I won." Maidana complained about being forced to fight with gloves he didnt 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 $32 million for the fight, was a 6-1 favourite coming to remain unbeaten. He had picked Maidana as an opponent because Maidana beat Adrien Broner in an upset in December, but he almost made the wrong pick. Mayweather seemed confused early and unable to adapt to the wild punches thrown by Maidana. It wasnt until the middle rounds that he got into more of a rhythm, hitting Maidana with hooks to the body and right punches to the head. Still, the fight was in doubt late as Maidana wouldnt quit coming forward. With the crowd on its feet in the final round he tried to land big punches, but Mayweather was able to escape most of them. Maidana, who was cheered by the crowd as he left the ring, said he wanted a rematch, and both promoter Richard Schaefer and Mayweather said he just might get one after nearly pulling off one of the biggest upsets in recent years. "If the fans want to see it again, lets do it again," Mayweather said. Bill Sharman Jersey . Pearce had a career-high four hits and drove in two runs, and Wei-Yin Chen shut down Texas again as the Orioles completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 5-2 victory on Thursday night. Gordon Hayward Jersey . The Mavericks avoided a season sweep by the Nuggets, who ran away with a win in Denver two weeks ago to hand Dallas its longest losing streak at three games. Dallas (42-28) got a boost in the playoff race when Miami rallied from seven down in the last 3 1/2 minutes to beat Memphis 91-86 Friday night.Dayton, OH - The Cal Poly Mustangs and Texas Southern Tigers square off in an NCAA Tournament first-round contest at UD Arena to determine which squad will garner the 16th seed in the Midwest Region of the bracket and advance to the round of 64. First-round action continues later tonight with a matchup featuring the Big Ten Conferences Iowa Hawkeyes taking on the SECs Tennessee Volunteers in a Midwest Region battle. You can watch live streaming coverage of both games tonight beginning at 6:40pm et/3:40pm pt,  exclusively on TSN GO. Cal Poly will try to extend its Cinderella story by moving past Texas Southern into the field of 64. The Mustangs made it through the Big West Conference Tournament with wins over UC Santa Barbara, top-seeded UC Irvine and a title game victory over Cal State Northridge, 61-59. Texas Southern went in as one of the favorites to take the Southwestern Athletic Conference title after having won its final six regular-season contests. The Tigers then went through Grambling State, Alabama State and Prairie View, 78-73, in the SWAC championship game. This is the first-ever meeting between these teams on the hardwood. Cal Poly, which had never been to the NCAA Tournament prior to this season, trailed Cal State Northridge in the Big West championship game at the half, 29-25. But the Mustangs made a comeback run in the second period, and slowly chipped away at the lead until they were the ones on top. Chris Eversley and Dave Nwaba, who have been the consistent go-to players this season, led the way once again. Eversley scored 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting, and Nwaba tallied 17 points with six rebounds and three blocked shots. Ridge Shipley added 14 points off the bench in the win. Eversley enters the postseason as one of two players for Cal Poly averaging a double-digit point total. Eversley tallies 13.6 ppg, and brings down a team- best 7.1 rpg with 43 steals on the year. Nwaba adds 11.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 18 blocked shots for the Mustangs, who average 63.2 ppg and allow 63.4 ppg to opponents through 32 games played. Jamal Johnson has dished out a team-best 90 assists, and Joel Awich has blocked 31 shots on the season. Texas Southern used a comeback effort in the second half of the SWAC championship game to end Prairie Views Cinderella run. The Panthers led at the half, 38-31, before Texas Southern sprang into action. The Tigers outscored Prairie View, 47-35, in the second half en route to the five-point victory. Aaric Murray notched a double-double with 27 points and 10 rebounds, adding a team-best four blocked shots. Madarious Gibbs netted 15 points with five assists, Jose Rodriguez scored 13 points and DAngelo Scott chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds. Texas Southern shot 64.7 percent in the second half. Murray has proven hes one of the better big men in the SWAC, and certainly one of the top scorers in the league. He enters the NCAA Tournament averaging 21.2 ppg to lead the team, netting 48.5 percent of his shots from the floor. He tops the squad in rebounding as well with 7.7 rpg, also registering a team- best 85 blocked shots. DAris Scarver is second in scoring at 13.3 ppg, and Rodrigueez tallies 11. Rick Fox Jersey. 3 ppg for the Tigers. Gibbs comes into the game averaging a team-leading 5.2 apg mark, and Scott (6.1 rpg) and Rodriguez (5.7 rpg) contribute to a strong rebounding team. Texas Southern averages 76.2 ppg and gives up 73.7 ppg to opponents. Iowa had a successful season up until the end. The Hawkeyes spent a chunk of the year ranked in the nations Top 25, but fell from grace after losing six of their last seven games. That includes a 67-62 loss to Northwestern in the conference tournament. Tennessee started to fuel up toward the end of the year, winning five games in a row before being ousted from the SEC Tournament by eventual champion Florida, 56-49. The Volunteers enter this matchup with key wins on the season over teams such as Virginia, Xavier and Ole Miss. Iowa leads the short all-time series against Tennessee, 2-1. All three games were played at neutral locations, with the last meeting taking place back in 2000s Rainbow Classic, which Tennessee won, 80-68. The loss for Iowa against Northwestern in the Big Ten Conference Tournament was almost as embarrassing as it was shocking. The Wildcats struggled all season long, and the defeat for the Hawkeyes really epitomized Iowas play at the end of its regular season. The two teams went into the half knotted at 31 apiece, but a dismal 25.7 shooting percentage in the second frame collapsed Iowa. Roy Devyn Marble scored 25 points to pace the Hawkeyes, adding four assists to his resume. Jarrod Uthoff chipped in 17 points with nine rebounds off the bench. Iowa shot 32.3 percent as a team. Marble had a stellar season for the Hawkeyes, leading the team in scoring at 17.3 ppg and adding a team-best 59 steals on the year. Aaron White checks in at second on the squad in scoring with a 13 ppg mark on 59.2 percent shooting from the floor. White is also the teams leading rebounder with 6.7 rpg, while Gabriel Olaseni leads the Hawkeyes with 43 blocked shots. As a team, Iowa is scoring an impressive 82 ppg, and is holding its opponents to 70.1 ppg through 32 games played. Holding Florida to just 56 points in the SEC Tournament isnt a bad thing, even if the Volunteers were taken down. Tennessee showed it can hang tough with the top team in the nation, and will try to prove it can do the same entering this tournament. Tennessee led the Gators, 35-28, at the end of the first half, but could only hit 25 percent of its shot attempts in the second frame. Jordan McRae netted 15 points to pace the Vols, while Jarnell Stokes added 13 with seven rebounds, and Jeronne Maymon chipped in 10 points with nine boards. The Vols ended up shooting 41.3 percent in the game. Like Iowa, Tennessee has a real weapon atop the team in the scoring department in McRae, who is averaging 18.6 ppg and has hit 148 3-point tries this season. His 83 assists is a team best, and his 22 steals is tied for third on the squad. Stokes comes in at 14.7 ppg, and is averaging a double-double in his 33 games played with 10.3 rpg. Maymon rounds out the double-digit scorers for the Vols at 10.1 ppg with an impressive 8.2 rpg average. Tennessee is scoring 71.3 ppg and giving up just 61.1 ppg. ' ' '