MELBOURNE • Australia's Jeff Horn has given Conor McGregor little chance of beating Floyd Mayweather Jr in Saturday's super-fight and hopes the American boxer will "annihilate" the mixed martial arts fighter for the sake of boxing.

Horn, who became the WBO (World Boxing Organisation) welterweight champion by beating 38-year-old Manny Pacquiao in Brisbane last month, said McGregor would struggle to even land a punch on the undefeated American.

Mayweather (49-0), who is coming out of retirement, has not fought in nearly two years but is a heavy favourite to surpass Rocky Marciano's record in the Las Vegas bout, which purists have dismissed as an exhibition.

"I hope Mayweather annihilates him and I think he will," Horn said yesterday.

"It will be dreadful for the sport of boxing if Mayweather, one of the greatest fighters of all time, gets rolled by a guy having his first fight but I can't see McGregor doing too well even with all the hype.

"Their fight is going to be under boxing rules and Mayweather will probably not even get hit."

Former schoolteacher Horn is set for a rematch against Pacquiao in Brisbane later in the year, but he also said that he would "love a crack" at Mayweather.

"He could challenge me for the world welterweight title. And if McGregor wanted to fight me, I'd take it right now. I wouldn't be worried one bit," said the 29-year-old.

Saturday's fight is tipped to test the pay-per-view and revenue records set by the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout in May 2015.

Mayweather's defeat of the Filipino generated over US$400 million (S$544 million) from 4.6 million pay-per-views.

For boxing fans in Singapore, the clash will also be available on pay-per-view - $49.95 on StarHub TV and StarHub Go Android app or web browser, and $49.98 on StarHub Go iOS app. For more information, please visit www.starhub.com/boxing.

REUTERS

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