By Rick Reeno

WBA 'regular' welterweight champion Keith Thurman (26-0, 22KOs) found himself unexpectedly entertained on Saturday night, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. dominated Andre Berto over twelve rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Thurman was ringside, watching the fight play out and supporting his friend, Berto.

The event had issues from the start, because Berto was not a very popular choice. The backlash from fans was evident when Berto, a3-3 record in his last six fights and 34-1 underdog for most of the promotion, was announced as the opponent late last month.

Mayweather's rational for the selection was based on Berto's "exciting style" - because he wanted to satisfy the millions of fans who disappointed with the lack of fireworks in his May 2nd 'Fight of The Century' with Manny Pacquiao. 

"I think he wanted to be more than entertaining than the last fight with Pacquiao, and it was. It was more entertaining. It may not be what you want to see, but it was better than the last fight," Thurman told BoxingScene.com.

While Thurman may have been entertained, the majority of the fans who shelled out as much as $74.95 for pay-per-view were far from satisfied.

At times it was more of a shouting match than a fight, as both boxers yelled obscenities at each other. Eventually referee Kenny Bayless had to warn both boxers to stop talking to each other.

Besides the verbal warfare, Mayweather toyed with Berto in certain rounds - by dancing, sticking out his tongue and shuffling back and forth as Berto was doing his best to keep up.

But, Thurman says the angry public should have known better - because Mayweather performs in the same manner time and time again.

"Know what you're purchasing. Once again it was another Mayweather fight. Mayweather is a defensive, move around the ring kind of fighter. I think he boxed beautifully and he used those tactics to get under Berto's skin and he did. And that's why Berto responded with those kind of remarks [in the ring]," Thurman said.

"At the end of the day - Floyd is patient, he's avoiding and he's pot-shotting. Berto was frustrated and trying to get him to open up more and fight more, and Floyd did fight more. I think Floyd did fight more due to his confidence when he realized that his speed was way too much for Berto to really handle, that Berto was easily in the line of fire, and there was not a tremendous amount of head movement."