The 20 highest-paid athletes in the world
(Al Bello/Getty Images)
They don't call him "Money" for nothing. Forbes released it's 2015 rendition of the top-100 highest-paid athletes in the world on Wednesday, and for the second straight year boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. topped the list, earning just $13 million less than the next three athletes combined.
Mayweather made more than $200 million from his historic fight against Manny Pacquiao. Thanks to the fight generating nearly $600 million worth of revenue, Pacquiao actually comes in at second, albeit a distant second, on the list. He was the 11th highest-paid athlete in 2014.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Roger Federer finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th respectively in the rankings that include both earnings and endorsements. This means that not a single player from the three major sports in the United States – football, basketball, and baseball – cracked the top-5.
LeBron James is the highest-paid basketball player at 6th, trailing Federer by just $2.2 million. Ben Roethlisberger, surprisingly, is the highest-paid football player, coming in at 11. And Jon Lester is the highest paid baseball player at 19.
For the sixth straight year, tennis star Maria Sharapova ($29.7 million) ranks as the highest-paid female athlete, finishing 26th overall.
Here's the top-20:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. (boxing): $300 million
Manny Pacquiao (boxing): $160 million
Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer): $79.6 million
Lionel Messi (soccer): $73.8 million
Roger Federer (tennis): $67 million
LeBron James (basketball): $64.8 million
Kevin Durant (basketball): $54.1 million
Phil Mickelson (golf): $50.8 million
Tiger Woods (golf): $50.6 million
Kobe Bryant (basketball): $49.5 million
Ben Roethlisberger (football): $48.9 million
Rory McIlroy (golf): $48.3 million
Novak Djokovic (tennis): $48.2 million
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (soccer): $39.1 million
Lewis Hamilton (racing): $39 million
Ndamukong Suh (football): $38.6 million
Fernando Alonso (racing): $35.5 million
Gareth Bale (soccer): $35 million
Jon Lester (baseball): $34.1 million
Derrick Rose (basketball): $33.9 million
Check out the entire list here >
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