Mayweather Tops Forbes 2015 List of The World's Highest-Paid Athletes

The top 10 highest paid sportspeople of 2015:

 

Floyd Mayweather Jr. has been named as the richest athlete in the world in the 2015 Forbes List of The World's Highest-Paid Athletes. With earnings of $300 million, the boxer earned $140m more than his closest rival, his opponent in the 'fight of the century', Manny Pacquaio. The pair made over $100m each from last month's fight in Las Vegas. .

With earnings of $300 million, the boxer earned $140m more than his closest rival, his opponent in the 'fight of the century', Manny Pacquaio. The pair made over $100m each from last month's fight in Las Vegas.

 This is the third time in four years that Mayweather has ranked as the world’s highest-paid athlete (Tiger Woods was the highest-paid in the 12 other years since 2001). Mayweather’s $300 million year shatters the record for athlete earnings, which was previously held by Tiger Woods, who banked $115 million in 2008 ($125 million adjusted for inflation).

Pacquiao also scored the payday of a lifetime, vaulting him to second place among the world’s highest-paid athletes at $160 million (he ranked 11th last year). Pacquiao’s $125 million haul for the Mayweather bout was four times his previous high for a boxing match. Pacman also tallied $23 million for his November fight against Chris Algieri that took place in the gambling mecca of Macau, China.

Pacquiao boosted his income further through endorsement deals with Nike, Foot Locker, Wonderful Pistachios and Nestle’s Butterfinger, plus a handful in the Philippines. The pugilist and Philippine congressman is sidelined for the rest of 2015 after shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. His promoter Bob Arum is aiming to have Pacquiao climb back in the ring in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in March or April 2016.

 Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Roger Federer make up the top 5, Cristiano Ronaldo (£51.7m) for third place this time next year - particularly if he can boost his pretty lousy £650,000 a year endorsement income.
Barcelona rewarded their four-time FIFA player of the year, Lionel Messi, with a $9 million a year raise in 2014. It is Messi’s seventh new contract since 2005 and puts his salary and bonuses in line with Ronaldo at $50 million a year through 2018. Messi delivered for Barca this season by leading the squad to its fifth Champions League title in June. His endorsement partners include Adidas, PepsiCo, Electronic Arts, Turkish Airlines, Gillette, Audemars Piguet and more. Samsung cast him as superhero Iron Man this year in its ad to promote the new Avengers film. The Argentine star banked $22 million off the pitch over the last year by our count with total earnings of $73.8 million. Roger Federer being far and away the best-paid tennis player in the world at number five, despite the fact that he failed to win a Grand Slam title for the second year running,