Boxer Floyd Mayweather reclaimed his place at the top of Forbes’ annual ranking of the 100 highest-paid athletes on the planet but no woman featured on the list for the first time since its inception.
Three Formula 1 drivers that featured in the top 100: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton whose estimated earnings of $51-million put him 12th on the list, ahead of Sebastian Vettel in 18th banking $42.3-million and Fernando Alonso in 39th thanks to his $32-million McLaren paycheck.
Forbes reported that Mayweather, 41, topped sports highest-earners after banking $275-million dollars from his cross-combat super fight against mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor in August 2017.
With an additional $10 million in endorsements, Mayweather earned a total of $285-million between June 1 2017 and June 1 2018, comfortably eclipsing the second-placed figure on the list, football star Lionel Messi, who made $111 million.
However, female athletes notably failed to break into the top 100 for the first time since Forbes began publishing its ranking. Tennis star Serena Williams, who last year was the only woman to feature on the list at 51st place with earnings of $27 million, dropped out of the rankings after taking a break from the sport due to the birth of her daughter.
Former welterweight king Mayweather, who came out of retirement to face McGregor in Las Vegas, topped the rankings for the fourth time in seven years.McGregor meanwhile vaulted up the rankings to fourth spot, thanks to his $85 million cut of the Mayweather purse.
A further $14 million in endorsements took the Irish fighter’s earnings to $99 million, just behind Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo, who was third with earnings of $108 million.
Brazilian footballer Neymar was fifth on the list with $90 million in earnings, his salary boosted by his record-breaking transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain last year.NBA icon LeBron James was the highest-paid basketball player to feature on the list, coming in at sixth with total earnings of $85.5 million, just ahead of Roger Federer, who earned $77.2 million.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry was the only other NBA player to feature in the top 10, with earnings of $76.9 million.
The full list can be found here>>>