DETROIT -- Floyd Mayweather had a very good night and so did Las Vegas, which despite all its reputation as the capital of boxing had never produced a native world champion until Ishe Smith did it Saturday night.

Smith pulled out a 12-round split decision over Detroit's Cornelius "K-9" Bundrage to win the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight title before 3,130 fans at Masonic Temple Theater.

Smith, who fights under Mayweather Promotions' banner, turned the fight in his favor by taking control in the second half of the bout after some close and listless early rounds.

He improved to 25-5, while the 39-year-old Bundrage slipped to 32-5.

Mayweather is largely presumed to be planning a fight, perhaps even later this year, against 154-pound rising star Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. But with Smith winning the IBF title in that same division, Mayweather may prefer steering him toward a unification with Alvarez first.

Herb Santos and Gerard White both scored 116-111 for Smith, while Dave Hess scored 114-113 for Bundrage, who had a point deducted in the second round for punching Smith to the body while the latter was down on one knee from a slip.

The judges agreed on just five of 12 rounds, giving the first two to Bundrage and the seventh, 10th and 11th to Smith.

Smith has admitted having suicidal thoughts when his career was stalled in 2008 and 2009.

"Man, I've waited 13 years for this," Smith said. "This is amazing. Honestly, I need to thank Leonard (Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions) and Floyd, they were the ones who made it happen for me. It's amazing because five years ago I was about to kill myself and I didn't do it. And now I'm here, 13 years later, a champion."

He said he was cut in camp and suffered a rib injury.

"Floyd asked if I wanted to pull out and I said I didn't want to pull out," Smith said. "This was the biggest moment of my life."

Smith also became the first fighter to win a world title claim under the Mayweather Promotions banner.

Mayweather said that when he was in jail last year, he wrote Smith and told him to stay active and promised it would pay off in a title shot.

"I've been boxing Ishe since we were both younger," Mayweather said. "I'm so proud of him. When everybody turned their back on him, I didn't want to do that. I told him that not only could he fight for Mayweather Promotions, but I was going to get him a title shot."

Bundrage vowed to continue fighting.

"Ishe fought a good fight," he said. "He won fair and square. He was the better fighter tonight."

In the semi-main event, another Mayweather fighter, J'Leon Love of Dearborn Heights, improved to 15-0 with a rugged 10-round unanimous decision over Chicago's Derrick Findley (20-9), by scores of 100-90 and 99-91 twice.

Neither fighter was down and Love had his best success when keeping the fight at a distance and ripping shots to the body, while Findley did his damage inside. Both fighters were cut and Love was buzzed when he pulled straight back and got caught by a fifth-round hook, but his class was clear.

"I really felt great and felt that I dominated the fight," Love said after his first hometown fight and second in Michigan. "He kind of smothered me. I couldn't land the uppercut the way I wanted to, so I went back to the other shots that worked."

Findley said he had double-vision after catching a second-round thumb in the right eye.

"He can't punch at all," Findley said. "If he could, I wouldn't have kept coming at him the way I did. But no excuses, he was the better man tonight."

In other bouts:

--2012 U.S. Olympic middleweight Terrell Gausha (3-0) went the four-round distance for the first time a win over Lekan Byfield (2-4-2) of Tarrytown, N.Y. Gausha, of Cleveland, now fighting as a super middleweight, won 40-36 three times.

--Kentrell Claiborne (3-6, 2), Shreveport, La., pulled a major upset when he stopped Golden Boy Promotions' new signee Steve Geffrard (0-1), Miami, on cuts, at 2:19 of the third in a scheduled four after trailing badly, four rounds, cruiserweights.

--Mayweather fighter Badou Jack (13-0) of Las Vegas won an unpopular eight-round unanimous decision over Don Mouton (11-6-1), Houston, 78-74 three times, super middleweights.

--Another Mayweather fighter, Milwaukee's Luis Arias (3-0, 2) worked a combination knockdown against Chicago's Edgar Perez (5-3), then moments later went downstairs for the coup de grace at 2:23 of the first in a scheduled six, super middleweights.

--Coy Witt (3-2, 2), Pounding, Va., stopped Joseph Bonas (0-1), Detroit, at 55 seconds of the first round in a scheduled four, junior middleweights.

--Braulio Santos (9-0, 8), Carolina, Puerto Rico, stopped Terrance Walker (0-3), Grand Rapids, at 1:19 of the first in a scheduled four, junior lightweights.

--D'Mitrius Ballard (1-0, 1), Temple Hills, Md., stopped Kelly Henderson (0-2), Bluefield, W.Va., at 1:06 of the first in a scheduled four, light heavyweights.

Contact David Mayo at dmayo@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter.

