Mayweather, Pacquiao top Forbes highest paid athletes list

MANILA, Philippines – Show me the Manny.

Eight-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao cashed in big over the past 12 months, placing second behind Floyd Mayweather Jr on the Forbes list of highest paid athletes. Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts) raked in a total of $160 million – $148 million in purses and $12 million in endorsements, due in large part to his earnings from the Mayweather mega-fight last month in Las Vegas.

Mayweather, who defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision in the highly-anticipated, but anticlimactic fight, also topped him at the bank, pulling in a staggering $300 million – $285 of which came from fight purses.

Football stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi placed well behind the boxing pair at third and fourth place with $79.6 million and $73.8 million respectively, but made a significant amount more in endorsements than the fighters.

Golfer Tiger Woods made just $600,000 on the course, but still earned a spot at number 9 thanks to $50 million in endorsements deals.

The rest of the top ten includes tennis player #5 Roger Federer ($67 million), 4-time NBA MVP LeBron James at no. 6 ($64.8 million), last year’s NBA MVP Kevin Durant ($54.1 million) at no. 7, golfer Phil Mickelson ($50.8 million) at no. 8 and oft-injured 5-time NBA MVP Kobe Bryant at no. 10 ($49.5 million). – Rappler.com