Undefeated boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr was named the highest-paid athlete in sports Wednesday by Forbes magazine with $112 million in net revenue. This is Mayweather’s second time topping the Forbes list. He also did it in 2012 with $85 million. Mayweather took the top spot from Tiger Woods, 2013’s winner, who also had been number one from 2001-2011. Woods ended up with the sixth spot on the list this year with a net revenue of $61.2 million. $55 million of that total came from endorsements. Mayweather’s victories against Canelo Alvarez in September and Marcos Maidana just last month helped make him the richest athlete of the past year. Mayweather achieved this with only 72 minutes of work and no endorsement income.
“I’m humbled and extremely fortunate to be recognised by Forbes as the highest-paid athlete once again,” Mayweather said. “I’m doing something no other athlete is doing, promoting myself and seeing my hard work pay off in the form of record-breaking numbers. It’s all about hard work and dedication which is so important and a key part of my financial success.”
To formulate this list, Forbes looks at endorsement income, along with prize money and salary payments, from June 1 of one year to the next.
Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo landed the second overall spot with $80 million, and Lebron James was third with $72.3 million. Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova led all women on the list (there were only three) with $24.4 million. She was ranked 34th overall.
The list of 100 athletes combined to make a total $2.75 billion together over the past year. The athletes that made up this list come from 27 total countries and are a part of 10 different sports in total.
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