Manny Pacquiao is not only the world's best boxer today but also happens to be the sports' richest fighter.
The eight-time world champion earned $52.5 million (P2.250 billion) last year, easily landing him a spot in the Fortunate 50 list of Sports Illustrated's highest-earning athletes.
The 32-year-old Filipino boxing sensation is ranked fourth behind top golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and tennis star Roger Federer. He is second behind Federer, owner of 16 grand slam titles, in the list of the highest-paid non-American athletes.
The earnings represented the prize money and endorsements made by Pacquiao in 2010, the year he collected $20 million each in the two fights he had with Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title and World Boxing Council (WBC) super welterweight crown, respectively.
Only last month, Pacquiao upped his ante by netting a total of $30 million (almost P1.3 billion) for successfully defending his WBO 147-lb belt opposite Sugar Shane Mosley with a 12-round one-sided decision.
Pacquiao, who is guaranteed a $20 million prize purse for the Mosley fight, is the only boxer to make the SI list and comes in the wake of a recent Forbes ranking where the reigning pound-for-pound king placed 24th in the World's 50 highest-paid athletes with net earnings of $25 million.
The Filipino southpaw is also the Philippines richest congressman too with over P1 billion of declared wealth according to his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). He represents the lone district of Sarangani province in the House of Representatives.
Woods, whose image was tarnished by a sex scandal, was the top earner for the eighth consecutive year by the popular sports magazine, but his winnings and endorsements dropped 31 percent in the 2011 survey to $62.3 million while Mickelson remained steady at $61.2 million.
Among Americans, Miami Heat's LeBron James ($44.5 million), NFL's Peyton Manning ($38 million) and Major League Baseball's Alex Rodriguez ($36 million) rounded out the top five.
Federer kept his top position among non-U.S. athletes despite slipping 14.5 percent to $52.8 million (third overall).
Spanish Formula One driver Fernando Alonso ($45 million), Barcelona's Lionel Messi ($43.8 million) and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo ($38.8 million) rounded out the top five on the international list.
SOURCE: gmanews.tv
