Floyd Mayweather Made Nearly Enough Money Last Year To Give $1 To Every American

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It’s no coincidence that boxer Floyd Mayweather’s nickname is “Money.”

Mayweather tops the Forbes list of 2018’s highest-paid athletes, having earned roughly $285 million last year.

The pugilist's income is comprised of roughly $275 million in salary in 2017 and $10 million in endorsements, enough to give all 325 million Americans about 88 cents each. Incredibly, Mayweather, who sports a 50-0 professional boxing record, earned the incredible payday from a single fight: the Aug. 26, 2017 defeat of UFC star Conor McGregor.

The single fight was such a moneymaker that it also catapulted McGregor to the No. 4 spot on this year’s list with $99 million in total earnings.

Top Earners

Here’s a rundown of the top five athletes on the Forbes list, along with some numbers from the business world to help put their incredible earning potential in perspective.

  • Floyd Mayweather (boxing): $285 million in earnings. In 2017, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported that profits from sports betting in the entire state for the year were just $248.8 million. 
  • Lionel Messi (soccer): $111 million in earnings. Messi’s profits in 2017 were exactly equal to the $111 million in losses Dropbox Inc DROP reported last year. 
  • Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer): $108 million in earnings. Ronaldo matched the entire second-weekend North American box office numbers for the blockbuster movie “Black Panther,” which scored $108 million in ticket sales.
  • Conor McGregor (mixed martial arts): $99 million in earnings. McGregor earned enough last year to consume the full $99 million salary cap of an entire NBA basketball team in the 2017-2018 season. 
  • Neymar (soccer): $90 million in earnings. It took Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN exactly 10 years after its founding in 1994 to record an annual net profit of more than $90 million in a single year. 

Other Notes

  • Tennis great Roger Federer earned $65 million in endorsements alone in 2017, more than any other athlete. Federer earned $77.2 million total, placing him at seventh overall.
  • LeBron James was the top-earning NBA player and sixth on the Forbes list, pulling down a total of $85.5 million last year.
  • Not a single female athlete ranked among the top 100 earners in 2017.
  • NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, 23, was the youngest athlete on this year’s list. Antetokounmpo earned $35.5 million in 2017, good enough to take the No. 30 spot on the list.
  • Golfer Phil Mickelson, 47, was the oldest athlete on the list. Mickelson earned $41.3 million last year and took the No. 22 spot on the Forbes list.

Related Links:

From Undefeated UFC Champion To Cannabis Entrepreneur: The Frank Shamrock Story

Will Legal Sports Betting Force The NCAA To Pay Its Athletes?

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Posted In: SportsMediaGeneralFloyd MayweatherForbes
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