According to Forbes, Mayweather’s net earnings were computed based on his earnings from June 1, 2014 to June 1, 2015 which includes all salaries, prize money and bonuses.
Mayweather has topped the Forbes list for the third time in four years, surpassing perennial top earners that include Tiger Woods, Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James, among others.
Pacquiao came in far second in the list with $160 million in earnings, with the bulk coming from the Mayweather fight. Pacquiao shared 40 percent of the fight purse while Mayweather took 60 percent.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is far third in the list with $79.6 million. Taking the fourth place is another soccer star, Leonel Messi of Argentina, with $73.8 million.
Completing the Top 5 is tennis star Roger Federer with $67 million.
The rest in the Top 10 of the world’s highest-paid athletes include LeBron James (N0.6) with $64.8 million, Kevin Durant (No.7) with 54.1 million, Phil Mickelson (No. 8) with $50.8 million, Tiger Woods (No.9) with $50.6 million and Kobe Bryant (No.10) with 49.5 million.
From the 10 world’s highest-paid athletes, two of them represent boxing (Mayweather and Pacquiao), two represent soccer (Ronaldo and Messi), another two representing golf (Woods and Mickelson) three basketball players (James, Durant and Bryant) and one in tennis represented by Roger Federer.
Mayweather is set to return to the ring on Sept. 12 to fulfill his $200 million six-fight contract with CBS/Showtime. The world’s highest-paid athlete has repeatedly stated that he is retiring after the fight.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao is recuperating from his recent surgery to repair his torn shoulder rotator cuff that was re-injured during his fight against Mayweather last May 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
