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Jeff Horn's hopes of facing Floyd Mayweather appear to be dashed after the American boxing great announced next month's fight with UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor will be his last.
Horn called out Mayweather, the 40-year-old five-division world champion, after he beat Manny Pacquaio to win the WBO welterweight title in Brisbane earlier this month.
But Mayweather ruled out any prospect of a fight with the former Queensland schoolteacher.
Mayweather, at a packed media conference at the Wembley Arena in London, said he would hang up his gloves after facing McGregor on August 26 in Las Vegas.
"This is my last fight," he said.
"I've just done years and years and years of just fighting and travelling. I gave my word it is going to be my last fight, I promised this will be my last fight.
"I thought the Pacquiao fight would be my last fight but I am still in business and this fight is good business."
Horn called for Mayweather, who is unbeaten in his 49 professional bouts, immediately after beating Pacquiao and has been campaigning for the fight ever since his stunning victory over the Filipino.
The Australian spent much of this week in America predicting a Mayweather victory next month and again declared he would love a chance at the biggest box office draw in the fight game.
"To get a fight with Mayweather would be massive," Horn told News Corp Australia earlier in the week.
"My trainer Glenn Rushton is already working on a plan to beat him. And why not? I just beat Manny Pacquiao.'"
While Horn will not get the bout he so craves with Mayweather, he received praise for the way he saw off Pacquiao, who he outpointed in May 2015.
Mayweather is an overwhelming favourite to beat McGregor, who has never boxed as a professional, but admitted to concerns of an upset similar to the one Horn delivered on Pacquiao.
"It's just like the Pacquiao situation,'' Mayweather said.
"I think Pacquiao was focused on fighting [me] again. No one gave Jeff Horn a chance - he's a schoolteacher who was bullied - now he's world champion.
"So anything can happen in boxing."
Mayweather and McGregor concluded their four-day promotional tour with another foul-mouthed media conference, this time in front of thousands of fans at the Wembley Arena.
The undefeated American Mayweather and the UFC lightweight champ McGregor of Ireland traded many of the same crude jibes used at previous events in Los Angeles, Toronto and New York. After a four-day war of words, the focus now switches to the fight itself.
McGregor spoke first and he wasted no time firing insults at Mayweather and his team as he strutted around the three-sided boxing ring set up for the event.
"Let's get it straight. The bullshit is now over. In six weeks I'm going to sleep this fool, and when I sleep him, I'm going to bounce his head off the canvas as well," he said.
When Mayweather got on the microphone he was booed relentlessly, the crowd chanting abuse and taunting him over his unpaid taxes, but he appeared unfazed.
"I'm the teacher. August 26th, I'm going to take you to school," Mayweather roared before taunting McGregor about his submission loss to Nate Diaz in 2016.
After both sides added to the pile of homophobic, racial and misogynistic slurs aired all week with another round of profanities, the two finally squared off before taking a handful of questions from media members that eased the tension.
AAP/Reuters
Topics: boxing, sport, england, united-kingdom
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