Though Floyd Mayweather Jr. has yet to officially announce his fight this September, he has technically scored another achievement recently though not on the boxing ring.
Mayweather has just added another milestone to his colorful career after Forbes named the flamboyant one as the highest-paid athlete in the world for the period covering June 1, 2014 to June 1, 2015.
This will be the third time in four years that Mayweather has been ranked among the highest-paid list of athletes.
Mayweather is expected to hit the $300 million earning plateau once accounting for the fight is done with. He stands to earn that much, shattering the previous record held by golfer Tiger Woods back in 2008 ($115-$125 million).
He had already received a $100 million check on fight night and that is just peanuts compared to what he stands to get from the $400 million slice of the fight’s revenue.
The boxer stands to add more to his riches this coming September which could be against Amir Khan of Britain. Though he claims this would be his last match, there are some who believe he will fight at least one more time next year against Manny Pacquiao.
On the other end, Pacquiao, despite being criticized for fighting with an injured right shoulder, ended up second to Mayweather at $160 million. The Filipino lawmaker was previously ranked 11th but his $125 million haul eventually catapulted him to the top of the list.
Pacquiao’s pay for the May 2 bout was four times his previous high which included his November fight against Chris Algieri ($23 million). A large chunk of Pacquiao’s earnings came from endorsements, much of which originate from his home country, the Philippines.
Rounding up the top ten of highest paid athletes by Forbes include:
- 3rd- Christian Ronaldo (Soccer - $79.6M)
- 4th - Lionel Messi (Soccer - $73.8 M)
- 5th - Roger Federer (Tennis - $67M)
- 6th - Lebron James (Basketball - $64.8M)
- 7th - Kevin Durant (Basketball - $54.1M)
- 8th - Phil Mickelson (Golf - $50.8M)
- 9th - Tiger Woods (Golf - $50.6M)
- 10th – Kobe Bryant (Basketball - $49.5)
It should be noted that the figures include all salaries, prize money and bonuses paid out for the period of June 1, 2014 to June 1, 2015. It includes endorsement deals (estimated) and are all of gross amount.
The last athlete to enter the top 100 of highest paid athletes was James Harden of the Houston Rockets with $18.8 million. This amount jacked up the previous high which was $17.3 million.
Baseball had the most number of individuals in the list with 27 among the 10 sports. There were 62 American athletes in the list though 14 non-Americans were among the top 25 top paid athletes.