Mayweather stops McGregor in 10th round TKO win
Former five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (50-0, 27 KOs) defeated UFC fighter Conor McGregor (0-1) on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
A boxing match between an all-time great and an opponent making his professional debut ended as expected.
The unbeaten American stopped a brave but outclassed McGregor by 10th round TKO.
Mayweather, who has won world titles at super featherweight, lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight and light middleweight, scored the 50th win of his outstanding career, surpassing the historic 49-0 record that great heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano retired with.
McGregor, 29, UFC's 155-pound champion, started the fight well and landed a couple of shots as he went on the attack in the opening round while Mayweather mostly moved around. The Irish southpaw put his hands behind his back at one point in a slow-paced round.
There was little action in the following rounds but McGregor remained the busier, moving forward and jabbing at Mayweather, though referee Robert Byrd warned him for hitting behind the head.
Mayweather, 40, started to get going in the fourth as he began to land hard shots against McGregor, who seemed to begin tiring.
McGregor, his face now showing redness from the punches, was still firing back but his shots were having no affect on the American.
He went straight at Mayweather at the beginning of the ninth and landed to the body, but by the end of the round McGregor was getting battered by brutal combinations.
Mayweather continued the assault in the 10th and after landing a series of unanswered punches, Byrd jumped in and stopped the fight at 1:05 of the round with McGregor slumped along the ropes.
"Our game plan was to take our time, go to him, let him shoot his shots early and then take him out down the stretch," said Mayweather.
"He was a lot better than I thought. But I was the better man. I guaranteed everybody this would not go the distance."
McGregor, who stated he would return to the UFC but would not rule out boxing again, said: "I thought it was close and I thought it was a bit of an early stoppage. I was just a little fatigued."
Also on the card, former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack (22 -1 -2 , 13 KOs) captured the WBA light heavyweight title, defeating defending champion Nathan Cleverly (30-4, 16 KOs) by fifth round TKO.
Sweden-born Jack was always landing the harder shots throughout the fight, and a barrage of punches cut the Welsh fighter in the fourth round.
Jack continued to connect in the fifth and referee Tony Weeks waved the bout off at 2:47 of the round.
Cleverly announced his retirement after the fight.
Former IBF super featherweight champion Gervonta Davis (19-0, 18 KOs) defeated Costa Rica's Francisco Fonseca (19-1-1, 13 KOs) by a controversial eighth round TKO.
The American dominated most of the rounds before he hit Fonseca with an illegal punch behind his head and then shoved him to the canvas in the eighth round.
Fonseca was badly hurt and stayed down as referee Russell Mora, despite the foul, counted him out at 39 seconds of the round.
Davis lost his IBF 130 pound title when he came in 2 pounds over the division weight limit at Friday's weigh-in. The IBF belt was only at stake for Fonseca.