TV demand forces delay of Mayweather-McGregor

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.