Mayweather Top World Paid Sports Star, while CR7 Made Second On The List

American boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather has

again come out on top of the list of the world stop-paid sports stars.

The undefeated 37-year-old star fought just twice in

the last 12 months, but despite his lack of

endorsements he raked in enough from the bouts

against Canelo Alvarez and Marcos Maidana to collect an astonising $105 million – or £66m.

No wonder he nicknamed himself ;Money, and constantly flouts his wealth with pictures on Instagram.

Perhaps most surprising of all, however, is how he

makes so much: while the other top earners make a

huge chunk of their money through endorsements

(90 per cent of it, in the case of golfers and tennis

players), the boxer’s money all comes through

earnings. His huge deal with Showtime TV guarantees him at least £25m per fight, but he also makes a huge amount working as a promoter for other fighters.

Mayweathers cash haul was enough to see him

overtake Tiger Woods at the top of Forbes

magazine latest rankings of the world& best-paid athletes, £16m ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo on £50m.

Basketball superstar LeBron James was third on

£45.2m, just ahead of Lionel Messi on £40.5m.

Another NBA legend, Kobe Bryant, rounded out the

top five on £38.5m, with Woods right behind in sixth place.

Mayweather giant pay makes him only the second man in history – behind Woods – to earn more

than $100 million in a single year through sport.

Adjusting figures for inflation, however, Forbes

reports that Michael Jordan, Michael Schumacher and Mike Tyson have all enjoyed nine-figure years in the past. [Note to self: if sporting career ever takes off, change name to variant of "Michael".]

Tiger Woods is sixth, his lowest position since 1997,

the year in which he won his first Major title barely

six months after turning professional, and in which

he was also sixth on the list. The golfer topped the

list 10 years running from 2002 onwards, with

Mayweather top in 2012, and Woods regaining top

spot (briefly) last year.

Further down the list, Roger Federer in seventh

earns bragging rights in tennis earnings ahead of Rafa Nadal, with Novak Djokovic down in 17th despite having the best year on court of anyone.

Djokovic suffers the ignominy of being three places

lower than Gareth Bale; the Welshman £22.8m makes him football fourth best-paid player behind Ronaldo, Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovc (12th on £25.3).

Bale is also the top British star on the list: F1 ace

Lewis Hamilton is 19th, barely scraping a top-20 spot with his £20m salary.

The Forbes top 10 best-paid athletes in the world

1. Floyd Mayweather £65.6m Boxing

2. Cristiano Ronaldo £50.0m Football

3. LeBron James £45.2m Basketball

4. Lionel Messi £40.4m Football

5. Kobe Bryant £38.4m Basketball

6. Tiger Woods £38.3m Golf

7. Roger Federer £35.1m Tennis

8. Phil Mickelson £33.3m Golf

9. Rafael Nadal £27.8m Tennis

10. Matt Ryan £27.4m NFL