Floyd Mayweather, who earns over £60million per year, has been named as the highest-paid athlete by American business magazine Forbes.
The unbeaten American boxer, who has recently showed off his wealth in a series of posts on Twitter, is the world’s richest sports star having earned £66m in 2014 following fights against Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana.
Real Madrid star Gareth Bale, signed by the European giants in the summer of 2013, is the highest-earning Brit in the list following his £80m switch to the Spanish capital.
F1 star Lewis Hamilton is the top-earning Englishman in the list in nineteenth place with earnings of £20m.
However, only three women are named on Forbes’ top 100 list and all three are tennis stars.
Maria Sharapova is 34th with earnings of just over £15m, Li Na – who was forced to retire through injury in September – is 41st with earnings of £14.8million while World No 1 Serena Williams earned £13.85million in 2014 and is 55th in the table.
Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo – Bale’s team-mate at the Bernabeu – is second on the list having raked in just over £50million after his Champions League success last term.
The Portugal international’s endorsements with Nike, Samsung and Toyota, amongst others, reportedly earned the 29-year-old £17million this year. Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi is fourth.
Tiger Woods and Roger Federer, two of this century’s biggest sporting names, have made the vast majority of their money this year through endorsements, not winnings.
Basketball stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are third and fifth in the list respectively whilst NFL star Matt Ryan, Rafael Nadal and Phil Mickelson complete the top ten.
Fifteen football stars feature on the list, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Neymar and Manchester United pair Wayne Rooney and Radamel Falcao.
Luis Suarez, who joined Barcelona in the summer, was named the 100th highest-paid athlete following a stellar season for Liverpool as the frontman’s goals helped the Reds finish second in the Premier League and earned him the Football Writers’ Association’s Player of the Year award.
Source: Daily Mail
