Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the world’s highest paid athlete thanks to one lucrative night of boxing
Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought just one time during the last year,but he made more than enough money from that bout to return to the top of Forbes’ annual list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes.
Mayweather made $285 million in the last 12 months, with $275 million of that amount coming from his 10th-round technical knockout of Conor McGregor on Aug. 26. The other $10 million came from endorsements.
Mayweather also led the list in 2012, 2014 and 2015. He had been retired for nearly two years before returning to the ring against McGregor for a huge paycheck that surpassed the combined 12-month earnings of the next two athletes on Forbes’ list, soccer stars Lionel Messi ($111 million) and Cristiano Ronaldo ($108 million).
McGregor is fourth on the list, with $85 million of his $99-million total earnings coming from the fight against Mayweather. The top 10 is rounded out by soccer star Neymar ($90 million), Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James ($85.5 million), tennis star Roger Federer ($77.2 million), Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry ($76.9 million), Atlanta Falcons’ Matt Ryan ($67.3 million) and Detroit Lions’ Matthew Stafford ($59.5 million).
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is the highest ranking baseball player, coming in at No. 37 with $34.5 million.
For the first time in eight years, no woman made the list. Serena Williams was No. 51 in 2017 but took much of the last 12 months off from competitive tennis. Williams, who gave birth to her daughter in September, earned $18 million during that period, mainly from endorsements.
Twitter: @chewkiii
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