According to Forbes, there was no athlete who made more money than Floyd Mayweather in 2014.
I mean, when the guy is routinely taking pictures like this:
Is anyone really that surprised?
Mayweather was able to make $105 million over the past year but what’s most impressive is that he managed to make that much money by doing just two fights; one against Canelo Alvarez and one against Marcos Maidana. Combined, those fights lasted 72 minutes which means that Mayweather made approximately $1.45 million per minute in the ring over those two fights. He is the first athlete since Tiger Woods to crack the $100 million threshold in a single year.
Cristiano Ronaldo ranked second in the world because soccer is actually the most popular sport in the world despite the fact that America thinks otherwise. Ronaldo made $80 million over the last 12 months, with $52 million coming from his salary and $28 million coming from endorsements.
Coming in third was LeBron James. The King collected $72.3 million with $53 million of that coming from endorsements. In addition, his shoes sell like hotcakes and he had a small stake in Beats by Dre, so he made millions when Beats were sold to Apple.
At the fourth spot, Lionel Messi took home $64.7 million. That should increase next year as he signed a new contract in May that will pay him $50 million to a year. Right now, Messi “only” makes $41.7 million by playing soccer.
Rounding out the top five is Kobe Bryant at $61.5 million. While Kobe didn’t play much in 2013-14, he did manage to Jedi mind-trick the Lakers into offering him a two year extension worth $48.5 million. His annual salary of $30.5 million is $8 million higher than any other NBA player despite only playing in six games this season.
Lastly, it bears mentioning that Tiger Woods came in sixth, with a paltry $61.2 million. This only bears mentioning because Tiger has topped the Forbes list for 12 of the last 14 years. The only times where he’s not been the most well-paid athlete over that time span, it’s been Mayweather (back in 2012).
So, if you want to be the wealthiest athlete in the world, don’t pick up a basketball, football or even a soccer ball. Pick up a golf club or some boxing gloves and get to it.
Forbes’ tallied the earnings of athletes between June 1, 2013 and June 1, 2014 for its list.
[Forbes] via [For the Win]
