Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather meet at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday for what has the potential to be the richest fight in boxing history.

Six-weight world champion De la Hoya is defending his WBC light middleweight belt against the unbeaten Mayweather, a world champion at four weights.

De la Hoya, 34, is reportedly being paid £15m and Mayweather, 30, £6m.

And the clash could surpass the record 2m pay-per-view sales set by Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield II in 1997.

It has already set a record for the biggest live gate at £9.6m, surpassing the Holyfield-Lennox Lewis rematch in 1999.

Tickets for ringside seats are exchanging hands for £10,000 and the bout will be seen in 176 countries.

De la Hoya, who has 38 wins (30 KOs) and four losses, has generated £245m in pay-per-view revenue alone since 1995.

Mayweather, who is 37(24)-0, is arguably boxing's best pound-for-pound fighter, but does not come close to his fellow American's marketability.

With the two combatants being billed by many as potential saviours of boxing, they are under tremendous pressure to deliver a classic fight.

They have also traded insults throughout an 11-city promotional tour ahead of the fight - and it has been claimed that De La Hoya's antipathy towards his opponent will affect the way he goes about the fight.

De La Hoya said: "I am not going to fight angry. I trained angry, but I am not going to fight angry and that is going to be the difference.

"It's just that everything that comes out of his mouth is motivating to me because it just makes me work that much harder. There is no respect whatsoever there.

"When a fighter just talks that little trash, for some reason it just sparks something in me. It takes me to a whole new level. I want to run extra miles. I want to spar more rounds."

BBC Sport