Floyd Mayweather Tops Forbes' 2015 List Of The World's Highest-Paid Athletes

Floyd Mayweather has had a career full of monster paydays, with cumulative earnings of $420 million entering 2015. But Mayweather still craved the score of a lifetime. “Even from day one when I was with Bob Arum, I said I wanted to work extremely hard to get to a certain point in my career, which is to get to a point to be the first fighter to ever make nine figures in one night,” Mayweather said ahead of his May 2 fight with Manny Pacquiao. Mission accomplished for the man they call Money.

Mayweather received a $100 million check on fight night, but the real payoff came after the revenue figures were tallied up. The fight was a dud in many people’s eyes, but it smashed every financial record in boxing, including pay-per-view buys (4.4 million and climbing), total gate ($73 million) and sponsorships ($13 million). The fight is expected to gross more than $600 million once everything is counted. The fighters and their promotion companies will divvy up roughly $400 million, with Mayweather owed a 60% cut. Factor in his September 2014 bout against Marcos Maidana, and Mayweather earned $285 million over the last 12 months in the ring. “Floyd Mayweather just pulled off the biggest score in the history of sports and entertainment,” says Leonard Ellerbe, who heads Mayweather Promotions.

Mayweather has shunned endorsement deals in the past, but he inked agreements with Hublot, FanDuel and Burger King ahead of the Pacquiao fight. The sponsorship deals and other earnings outside the ring from things like his TMT merchandise (short for The Money Team) added $15 million to Mayweather’s historic year.

This is the third time in four years that Mayweather has ranked as the world’s highest-paid athlete. Mayweather’s $300 million year shatters the record for athlete earnings, which was previously held by Tiger Woods, who banked $115 million in 2008 ($125 million adjusted for inflation).

The Pacquiao fight marked the fifth bout in the blockbuster 30-month, six-fight deal Mayweather signed with Showtime in 2013. Mayweather, whose record now stands at 48-0, plans to fight in September to satisfy his contract and then ride off into the sunset.

Pacquiao also scored the payday of a lifetime, vaulting him to second place among the world’s highest-paid athletes at $160 million (he ranked 11th last year). Pacquiao’s $125 million haul for the Mayweather bout was four times his previous high for a boxing match. Pacman also tallied $23 million for his November fight against Chris Algieri that took place in the gambling mecca of Macau, China.

Pacquiao boosted his income further through endorsement deals with Nike,Foot Locker , Wonderful Pistachios and Nestle's Butterfinger, plus a handful in the Philippines. The pugilist and Philippine congressman is sidelined for the rest of 2015 after shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. His promoter Bob Arum is aiming to have Pacquiao climb back in the ring in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in March or April 2016.

Credit: Forbes 

14:40