Mayweather tops list of the world`s top paid athletes

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. was the highest-paid athlete among the world`s sports stars over the last one year, befitting his nickname "Money."

U.S. business magazine Forbes reported that Mayweather earned 300 million U.S. dollars, including the pay from his fight in September last year with Marcos Maidana of Argentina and the May 2015 duel with Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines.

According to the Forbes magazine`s list of the world`s top-100 highest-paid athletes between June 2014 and June 2015, Pacquiao, who lost to Mayweather, ranked second by earning 160 million dollars. The figures include fight money, salaries, bonuses, prize money and advertisement fees.

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, Real Madrid) and Lionel Messi (Argentina, Barcelona) ranked third and fourth, respectively. Ronaldo raked in 79.6 million dollars, while Messi earned 73.8 million dollars. Neymar (Brazil, Barcelona), who led his team`s 2014-2015 Union of European Football Associations championship jointly with Messi, was the youngest athlete among the 100, pocketing 31 million dollars at age 23 years and four months.

Golfer Tiger Woods managed to remain in the top 10 with his 50.6 million dollars. Among baseball players, Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs was the top-paid one with 34.1 million dollars, ranking 19th. Indian cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the second-highest paid athlete in Asia, earning 31 million dollars.

elegant@donga.com