Mayweather vs McGregor: as it happened

Floyd Mayweather beat Irishman Conor McGregor by way of technical knockout in the 10th round of their much-hyped megafight on Saturday to keep his perfect record intact.

Mayweather, who came out of retirement at 40 for the fight, improved to 50-0 to surpass heavyweight great Rocky Marciano's 49-0 record for most wins without a loss or draw.

McGregor, a mixed martial arts champion who was making his professional boxing debut, failed to pull off what would have been the greatest upset in combat sports history but made the fight much more compelling than most experts had predicted. — Reuters

McGregor seems not to have taken the loss too badly. He has reason to be happy with his showing, doing much better than most experts had predicted, even winning the first few rounds.

"He's a lot better than I thought he was," Mayweather says. "Our game plan was to take our time." 

That plan worked.

The referee stops the fight. Mayweather wins! 

Big hit from Floyd, and Conor looks exhausted. Round 9 is Mayweather's.

The referee warns McGregor after a low blow to Mayweather.

A much more even round, but probably just going in Mayweather's favour. He should have made up the rounds deficit by now. It's all up for grabs in the final rounds.

Mayweather dominates another round, getting several solid shots in on McGregor, who seems to be getting tired. This was probably the Mayweather plan all along: weather Conor's attacks in the early rounds, then dominate the rest.

Mayweather has upped his pace considerably, coming out with some solid combinations. Very good round for him, and should be going his way on the judges' scorecards.

Mayweather is beginning to press the attack. McGregor was hoping to finish in three rounds, and that hasn't happened. Does the advantage now shift to Floyd?

McGregor may well have won the first three rounds on points. But does he have the stamina to go the distance?

Some solid hits there from McGregor in Round 1. Most judges should score that one for the Irishman.

McGregor taunting Mayweather. Is that a good idea? Time will tell. He's come out fighting in the first round.

Mayweather has now also made his way down to the ring. We're ready to rumble.

McGregor has made his way to the ring. Now we're just waiting for Floyd Mayweather, and we'll be all set for one of the most hotly anticipated bouts of all time.

We're about to get going: it's national anthem time before the big fight.

Looks like we're going to have to wait a little longer: there's been a slight delay to the start of the fight due to pay-per-view issues.

Las Vegas: Conor McGregor was calm and confident in his televised pre-fight interview, telling Showtime’s Jim Gray that he would “paint a beautiful picture” in his fight against heavily favored Floyd Mayweather.

McGregor was subdued in the interview, and he was still wearing a dress shirt, tie and vest, even though his hands were already wrapped about an hour before the start of the bout.

“I’m going to go out and be myself — free, spontaneous, creative — and paint a beautiful picture,” he said. “I see me truly outclassing this man and putting him to sleep.”

McGregor said he thought he weighed “about 170” pounds after rehydrating from Friday’s weigh-in, where he was 153. Mayweather weighed in at 149. — AP