Junior middleweight/welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn't just the world's best pound-for-pound boxer, he's also the world's highest-paid athlete.
For the second time in three years, Mayweather is the top money-earner on Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes. Forbes releases its list annually.
Mayweather, who goes by the moniker 'Money,' raked in a whopping $105 million over the past 12 months. More impressive is that Mayweather pocketed the amount in just two 12-round bouts - that's 72 minutes of work.
The scorecards in those wins, however, were closer than in the Las Vegas resident's recent fights. He defeated both defending junior middleweight titleholder Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez [September 2013] and hard-hitting welterweight contender Marcos Maidana [May 2014] by majority decisions.
Only golfer Tiger Woods, who's currently sixth on the Forbes list, has topped the $100 million mark outright. But unlike athletes in other sports, Mayweather generates his income from a percentage of fight revenue [pay-per-view sales, gate receipts, merchandise and his promotion company]. He doesn't have any high-payment individual endorsement deals.
International soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is second with an earnings total of $80 million. He receives $52 million from Real Madrid and $28 million in endorsements.
LeBron James is third at $72.3 million. The NBA's top player was paid $19.3 million from the Miami Heat and $53 million from endorsement deals.
Rounding out the top five are Lionel Messi [soccer] with $64.7 million, and Kobe Bryant [NBA] $61.5 million.
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