Keith Thurman won a split decision over Danny Garcia on Saturday night to become the unified welterweight division champion.
Thurman (28-0, one no-decision) added Garcia’s WBC welterweight title to the WBA belt he already had. Thurman’s record improved to 8-0 in world title fights.
The fight was scored 116-112 for Thurman, 115-113 for Garcia and 115-113 for Thurman.
In a reversal of form, Thurman threw more punches than Garcia -- 570 to 434 -- but was less accurate than Garcia. Thurman connected on 26 percent of his punches, whereas Garcia landed 30 percent of his (punch statistics courtesy of CompuBox).
Entering the fight, Garcia threw on average one punch per round more than Thurman, but Thurman connected on 34 percent of punches to Garcia’s 32 percent.
Thurman landed 37 percent of power punches Saturday, compared with 48 percent coming into the fight.
Garcia’s record fell to 33-1, including 7-1 in world title fights. Saturday’s fight was his first defense of his WBC title.
Garcia and Thurman entered Saturday’s fight as the only two undefeated champions in the welterweight division. Thurman is the first welterweight to hold multiple titles since Floyd Mayweather held the WBA, WBC and WBO belts after he defeated Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
The fight was the 10th world title unification bout in welterweight history. It was the third unification fight between undefeated welterweights, the first since Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya in 1999. The other was between Donald Curry and Milton McCrory in 1985.
Thurman closed as a minus-190 favorite (bet $190 to win $100), according to Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook. Garcia was a plus-170 underdog (win $170 on a $100 bet).
