Economy, Sports

Boxer Mayweather tops sports' highest earners in 2018

Footballers Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo follow Floyd Mayweather in Forbes list of world's 100 top-earning athletes

Fatih Erel  | 27.12.2018 - Update : 28.12.2018
Boxer Mayweather tops sports' highest earners in 2018

Istanbul

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL

American boxer Floyd Mayweather reclaimed his title as the world's highest-paid athletes in 2018 with $285 million earnings.

Forbes on Thursday released its list of the world's 100 highest-paid athletes.

A 41-year-old boxer was followed by Argentinean footballer Lionel Messi with $111 million, and Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with $108 million.

Barcelona's Messi, Juventus' Ronaldo, Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar are the footballers who made an appearance among the top 10 highest-paid athletes of the year.

The Forbes list also featured 40 basketball players. Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James ($85,5 million), Stephen Curry ($76,9 million), and Kevin Durant ($57,3 million) of Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook ($47,6 million) and Houston Rockets' James Harden ($46,4 million) were inscribed on the list.

It also includes 18 names from American football, 14 from baseball, 9 from football, 5 from golf and martial arts each and 4 from tennis, 3 from motor sports and 1 from athletics and cricket each.

The world's highest-paid top 10 athletes in 2018 are as follows: 

AthletesCountryBranchEarnings ($)
1 Floyd MayweatherUSABoxing285 million
2Lionel Messi Argentina Football111 million
3Cristiano RonaldoPortugalFootball 108 million
4Conor McGregorIreland RepublicMixed martial arts 99 million
5NeymarBrazilFootball 90 million
6LeBron JamesUSABasketball 85,5 million
7Roger FedererSwitzerlandTennis 77,2 million
8 Stephen CurryUSABasketball76,9 million
9Matt RyanUSAAmerican football67,3 million
10Matthew StaffordUSAAmerican football59,5 million

Mayweather's all-time earnings reached $1,07 billion.

He became the sixth athlete who exceeded $1 billion all-time earnings after Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Michael Schumacher.

The highest-paid athletes of all time are as follows:

AthletesCountry BranchEarning ($)
1Michael JordanUSABasketball1,85 billion
2 Tiger WoodsUSAGolf 1,7 billion
3Arnold Palmer USAGolf 1,4 billion
4 Jack NicklausUSAGolf1,2 billion
5Floyd Mayweather USABoxing1,07 billion
6 Michael Schumacher GermanyMotor sports 1 billion
7Phil Mickelson USAGolf 815 million
8Kobe BryantUSABasketball800 million
9David Beckham EnglandFootball800 million
10 Shaquille O'Neal USABasketball735 million
11 LeBron JamesUSABasketball730 million
12Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal Football725 million
13 Greg NormanAustralia Golf 705 million
14 Mike TysonUSABoxing700 million
15 Roger Federer SwitzerlandTennis675 million
16 Lionel Messi ArgentinaFootball600 million
17 Alex RodriguezUSABaseball575 million
18 Jeff Gordon USAMotor sports525 million
19 Oscar De La Hoya USABoxing

520 million


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