This was published 11 years ago
The world's richest athletes
WWOS staff
Forbes' annual rich list has once again highlighted the pay gap between the world's top male and female athletes
Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams were the only females included in a pecking order topped by boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.
However, the trend was not a reflection of the overall Forbes's rich list with Liliane Bettencourt ranked at number 10.
Andrew Bogut ($16.2 million) was Australia's top sports earner while Gina Rinehart came in at No.94 in the overall list with $15.8 billion.
1. Floyd Mayweather (boxing) $386 million ($367m in earnings, $19m in endorsements)
2. Manny Pacquiao (boxing) $206 million ($US191m, $15m)
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (football) $102 million ($68m, $34m)
4. Lionel Messi (football) $95 million ($67m, $28m)
5. Roger Federer (tennis) $86 million ($12m, $74m)
6. LeBron James (basketball) $83 million ($27m, $56m)
7. Kevin Durant (basketball) $69 million ($24m, $45m)
8. Phil Mickelson (golf) $65 million ($4m, $61m)
