Floyd Mayweather has been cashing multi-million checks for his fights for more than a decade. He banked at least $25 million for each of his past nine bouts going back to 2007 when he defeated Oscar De La Hoya in the most watched fight in the history of boxing pay-per-view events. Mayweather has earned almost $400 million in the ring since he turned pro in 1996 after the Olympics, but he has never had a year like this past one.
Mayweather earned $105 million during the past 12 months for 72 minutes of work in the ring for fights against Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana. The payday puts Mayweather atop Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes for the second time in three years. Mayweather is the first athlete, besides Tiger Woods, to crack the $100 million earnings threshold (Michael Jordan, Michael Schumacher and Mike Tyson have also turned the trick on an inflation-adjusted basis).
The September Mayweather-Canelo fight billed as “The One” set records for highest PPV gross ($150 million), live gate ($20 million) and total revenue (roughly $200 million). The Canelo fight marked the second bout in the blockbuster 30-month, six-fight deal Mayweather signed with Showtime in 2013. Mayweather earned a guaranteed $32 million for his May fight with Marcos Maidana where the PPV buys are expected to finish between 900,000 and one million when they are all counted, compared to 2.2 million for Mayweather-Alvarez. Mayweather is the most popular boxer on the planet which helps drive PPV sales, but his paychecks get a boost because he also serves as fight promoter, in addition to pugilist.
Real Madrid and Portugal national team star Cristiano Ronaldo leads a group of 15 soccer players in the top 100. Ronaldo ranks second overall with earnings of $80 million from his Real Madrid salary, as well as 11 endorsement partners like Emirates, Nike, Samsung Electronics and Toyota Motor that generate an estimated $28 million a year in income. Real Madrid locked up the reigning player of the year in September for five more years in a deal worth $200 million, plus bonuses. Ronaldo has one of the biggest social media followings on the planet with 83 million Facebook fans and 26 million Twitter followers (see “The Biggest Athletes On Social Media”).
LeBron James ranks third with earnings of $72.3 million. James is the NBA’s biggest endorsement star, thanks to deals with Nike, McDonald's MCD -0.35%, Coca-Cola , Upper Deck and others. Sales of his signature Nike shoes were tops among active players at $300 million in the U.S. during 2013, according to research firm SportsOneSource, and his jersey was the NBA’s best-seller. James also made millions from Apple AAPL -0.48%’s purchase of Beats by Dre for $3 billion. James had a very small equity stake in the company and made the brand a must-have accessory by outfitting the 2008 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Beijing in the high-priced headphones.
Lionel Messi ranks fourth at $64.7 million. His streak of four straight FIFA Ballon d’Or awards given to the world’s best soccer player was broken in January by Ronaldo. The two compete on the pitch as the stars of the sport’s two biggest clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid. In May, Messi signed his seventh contract in 11 years with Barca. The deal is expected to slightly exceed Ronaldo’s pact on an annual basis. They also vie for sponsor dollars as the premier figures in the world’s biggest sport. Messi’s endorsement portfolio includes Adidas, Electronic Arts, Gillette, Herbalife , PepsiCo PEP -0.6% and Turkish Airlines .
Rounding out the top five is NBA legend Kobe Bryant at $61.5 million. Bryant had the highest salary in the NBA for the fourth straight year during the 2013-14 season. His $30.5 million salary is nearly $8 million higher than any other player. He inked a two-year, $48.5 million contract extension in November that will keep his on-court salary tops in the NBA. Bryant missed all but six games of the 2013-14 season after a fracture in his left knee, but his jersey was still the NBA’s third best seller during the season after James and Kevin Durant. His deals with the likes of Turkish Air, Lenovo, Hublot, Nike and Panini are worth $30 million annually. Bryant invested $4-6 million this year to buy more than 10% of emerging sports drink BodyArmour. It was the first investment of his new company Kobe Inc.
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