Sport: Mayweather, Ronaldo Lead Highest Paid Sportsmen List

Floyd Mayweather made $32 million just for entering the ring in the rematch against Marcos Maidana, adding to the $105m he made towards the end of 2014 second quarter, he tops Forbes list of highest earning sportsmen followed by Cristiano Ronaldo, Lebron James, Lionel Messi and Kobe Bryant, then other five big earners

1. In 2014 Q2 alone, Mayweather, 37 amassed earnings worth $105m, but that was before the fight September rematch against Marcos Maidana which raked in $32 million guaranteed, just for entering the ring to face the Argentine. Added to the initial Q2 ending$105m Forbes recorded, Mayweather’s 2014 Q3 income worth grows to $137m, if that is considered; surprisingly, these earnings are without endorsements the boxer has no deal with any company, all he does is get companies to sponsor his fights and market them
   
   
2. Real Madrid Star Cristiano Ronaldo is second, with 11 endorsement partners Emirates, Nike, Samsung Electronics and Toyota Motor and others, the 29 year-old raked in $80m at the end of the second quarter and he is also the World’s most marketable player with social media control of 83 million Facebook fans and 26 million Twitter followers
   
   
3. NBA’s biggest endorsement, Lebron James is third with $72.3m; James has endorsement deals with Nike, McDonald's, Coca-Cola , Upper Deck and others.
   
   
4. Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi is fourth with $64.7m; art of Messi’s earnings come from endorsements withAdidas, Electronic Arts, Gillette, Herbalife, PepsiCo, Turkish Airlines and others
   
   
5. Kobe Bryant makes the top 5 with $61.5m: Bryant had the highest salary in the NBA for the fourth straight year during the 2013-14 season. His $30.5 million salary is nearly $8 million higher than any other player
   
   
6. Tiger Woods (American golfer and former World number oner) $61.2m
   
   
7. Roger Federer (Swiss Tennis player and former World number one) $56.2m
   
   
8. Phil Mickelson (American golfer) $53.2m
   
   
9. Rafael Nadal (Spanish international and Tennis star) $44.5m
   
   
10. Matt Ryan $43.8m