Sport Industry Group

‘Money’ knocks Tiger off sport rich list summit- 20 Jun 2012 00:00:00

American boxer Floyd Mayweather has overtaken Tiger Woods at the top of Forbes magazine's list of the 100 highest-paid sports personalities over the past year, after earning £54.25m (R701.7m) – despite currently serving a three-month jail sentence for domestic assault – a figure strengthened by promoting his own fights.

Tiger Woods dropped to third having received £37.92m (R490.5m) over the last year, with boxer Manny Pacquiao rising to second with earnings off £39.57m (R511.8m).

Beckham is the highest footballer on the list in eighth with earnings of £29.36m (R379.8m).

Golfer Phil Mickelson's £30.51m was enough to beat Beckham into 7^th place on the list, while arguably the highest profile athlete of London 2012, Usain Bolt, was only 63rd with £12.96m - just a quarter of Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather's earnings.

Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo is closing in on the top footballer placings, now just one behind Beckham in 9^th after earning 27.10m and also boasts the largest annual salary of any athlete in any league at £12.75m.

Woods has topped the Forbes list since 2001 but saw a drop in his earnings of £10.21m from the previous year - down by half from his peak in 2009 – following a sex scandal, as well as a dip in form.

Miami Heat star LeBron James ranks fourth at £33.84m, the highest of 13 basketball players and on the list, with Swiss tennis star Roger Federer in fifth at £33.64m.

Only two women made it on to the list - Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova was 26th at £17.79m, thanks largely to huge global endorsement totals, while China's Li Na was 81st overall, after becoming the first Asian-born player to win a Grand Slam singles crown at the 2011 French Open – banking £11.72m throughout the year.