Pacquiao 24th in Forbes' highest-paid athletes list

Manny Pacquiao dislodged Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Forbes.com's highest-paid athletes list as the boxing superstar and first-term Congressman in the Philippine House of Representatives placed 24th among 50 superstars of the sporting world. Mayweather Jr. placed second behind Tiger Woods in last year's list with $65 million in total earnings. But the undefeated American boxer has not fought in 13 months since a dominating win over Sugar Shane Mosley. Mayweather's 12-round non-title bout against Mosley on May 1, 2010 earned 1.4 million pay-per-view buys, the second-most lucrative non-heavyweight bout ever. Pacquiao, 32, is the only boxer in this year's list joining 29-year-old Brazilian football star Kaka at 24th spot. The reigning pound-for-pound king is also the Philippines' richest congressman with over P1 billion of declared wealth. Kaka, an attacking midfielder, appeared with British striker Wayne Rooney on the cover of the Electronic Arts Sports soccer video game FIFA 11, which sold 100 million units. Pacquiao is currently boxing's biggest draw, said Forbes.com. His last six fights generated more than six million pay-per-view buys combined. Forbes.com added that Pacquiao has also begun to beef up his endorsement portfolio after the eight-division world champion signed a three-year deal with Hewlett-Packard for a global ad campaign. Former world number one golfer Tiger Woods, who earned $75 million despite failing to win a single tournament, topped the world's highest-paid athletes list. He is now 13th in the world rankings. Woods lost a number of sponsorship deals after his much-publicized split with former Swedish model Elin Nordegren last year. He remains an endorser of Nike and EA Sports. The list was dominated by 15 basketball players led by Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who placed second to Woods with $53 million. He was followed by Miami Heat forward LeBron James at No. 3 with $48 million. Rounding up the Top 10 highest-paid athletes are Roger Federer (tennis, $47 million); Phil Mickelson (golf, $46.5 million); David Beckham (football, $40 million); Cristiano Ronaldo (football, $38 million); Alex Rodriguez (baseball, $35 million); Michael Schumacher (Formula 1 racing, $34 million); and Lionel Messi (football, $32.3 million). Tennis star Maria Sharapova was the only woman on the list as the three-time Grand Slam champion pooled together $24.2 million for 29th place. Forbes said that the 2011 highest-paid athletes earned $1.4 billion combined or $28 million on average, which is 11 percent lower than last year. The minimum to make the list was $18.8 million, compared to $21 million in 2010. Other athletes on the list are Fernando Alonso (F1 racing), Rafael Nadal (tennis), Valentino Rossi (Moto GP), Tom Brady (American football), Lewis Hamilton (F1 racing), Derek Jeter (baseball), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (NASCAR), Yao Ming and Dwyane Wade (Basketball). Peyton Manning (American football), Ichiro Suzuki (baseball), Carmelo Anthony (basketball), Jeff Gordon (NASCAR), Ronaldinho (football), Amar'e Stoudemire (basketball), Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR), Kevin Garnett (basketball). CC Sabathia (baseball), Jim Furyk (golf), Vince Carter (basketball), Johan Santana (baseball), Tim Duncan and Chris Paul (basketball), Mark Teixeira, Ryan Howard and Miguel Cabrera (baseball). Rashard Lewis (basketball), Todd Helton (baseball), Ernie Els (golf), Joe Mauer (baseball), Dirk Nowitzki (basketball), Barry Zito (baseball), Jahri Evans (American football), and Pau Gasol and Michael Redd (basketball). 4 Pinoys among world's billionaires Four Filipinos are also among this year's 1,211 billionaires of the world, whose total net worth is placed at US$4.5-trillion. Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu and his family remained on top with $74 billion followed by former No. 1 and Microsoft co-chairman Bill Gates ($56 billion). The Filipinos on the list are Henry Sy & Family ($5.8 billion, 173rd); Lucio Tan & Family ($2.3 billion, 512th); Andrew Tan ($2.2 billion, 540th); and Enrique Razon ($1.1 billion, 1057th). – Joseph Lariosa, JVP, GMA News (lariosa_jos@sbcglobal.net)