Floyd Mayweather wins with 10th round TK
Former welterweight boxing champion Mayweather, who had emerged from a two-year retirement to take on the Irish mixed martial arts star, took his time to get going before dominating from the fourth round.
The end came with a tired McGregor doubled over on the ropes as Mayweather landed two hard left hooks, prompting referee Robert Byrd to intervene and declare a technical knockout.
It was an explosive finale to their much-hyped contest at the T-Mobile Arena which proved surprisingly competitive in the early rounds as McGregor managed to land a string of scoring punches.
But once Mayweather began to find his range and McGregor wearied rapidly, there was only going to be one winner.
The 40-year-old American scored at will after the fourth round, snapping back McGregor’s head with a series of stinging blows.
McGregor somehow survived an onslaught in the seventh round when a right counter from Mayweather staggered him badly.
Finally McGregor’s resistance broke in the 10th when a Mayweather right sent him lurching across the ring.
A hard left put him on the ropes and another hook saw him bent over and helpless, prompting the stoppage.
The fight had followed a largely expected script but McGregor, in his first ever boxing appearance, by no means embarrassed himself.
Mayweather will now head into what he says is a permanent retirement with a perfect 50-0 record, one better than heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano.
The American is also expected to be around $200 million wealthier, taking his career earnings to around $1 billion.
McGregor, who was an unemployed former plumber four years ago before emerging as one of the biggest stars of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is expected to earn around $100 million.
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Las Vegas, United States | AFP | A surge in pay-per-view television demand forced a delay to the start of Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor’s Las Vegas superfight on Saturday.
A statement from Showtime Sports said the start of the fight, due to begin at around 9pm local time had been pushed back.
“Due to high demand, we have reports of scattered outages from various cable and satellite providers and the online offering,” Showtime said.
“We will delay the start of the main event slightly to allow for systems to get on track. We do not expect a lengthy delay.”
Saturday’s fight is tipped to break pay-per-view television records, with some estimates saying it could surpass the 4.6 million buys that Mayweather’s 2015 fight with Manny Pacquiao drew.
The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was also subject to delays as television providers struggled to cope with demand.
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