news Floyd Mayweather knocks Tiger Woods off the top of Forbes list

[Rappy Veteran]

Forbes list of highest paid sports stars

1 Floyd Mayweather $85m (?54.25m)

2 Manny Pacquiao $62m (?39.57m)

3 Tiger Woods $59.4m (?37.92m)

4 LeBron James $53m (?33.84m)

5 Roger Federer $52.7m (?33.64)

6 Kobe Bryant $52.3m (?33.38m)

7 Phil Mickelson $47.8m (?30.51m)

8 David Beckham $46m (?29.36m)

9 Cristiano Ronaldo $42.5m (?27.10m)

10 Peyton Manning $42.4m (?27.06m)

Floyd Mayweather has overtaken Tiger Woods at the top of Forbes magazine's list of the 100 highest-paid sports personalities over the past year.

Boxer Mayweather, currently serving a three-month jail sentence for domestic assault, made $85m (?54.25m) - a figure bolstered by promoting his own fights.

Golfing legend Woods dropped to third having received $59.4m (?37.92m) with boxer Manny Pacquiao rising to second on earnings of $62m (?39.57m).

David Beckham is eighth on the list.

He is the highest paid footballer with earnings of $46m (?29.36m).

Surprisingly, Olympic champion and world record-holding sprinter Usain Bolt, who is the most high-profile star of London 2012, was only 63rd with $20.3m (?12.96m) - just a quarter of Mayweather's earnings.

He also brought in less than half of golfer Phil Mickelson's $47.8m (?30.51m).

Woods had topped the Forbes list since 2001 but saw a drop in his earnings of $16m (?10.21m) from the previous year and was down by half from his peak in 2009.

He has suffered a tail off in endorsements since then as a result of being embroiled in a sex scandal.

Miami Heat star LeBron James ranks fourth at $53m (?33.84m), the highest of 13 basketball players and on the list. Swiss tennis star Roger Federer was fifth at $52.7m (?33.64m).

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo earned $42.5m (?27.10m) and can lay claim to the top annual salary of any athlete in any league at $20m (?12.75m).

Only two women made it on to the list - Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova was 26th at $27.9m (?17.79m), thanks in great measure to huge global endorsement totals, as well as $5.9m (?3.76m) in prize money over the past year.

China's 2011 French Open champion Li Na was 81st overall at $18.4m (?11.72m), after becoming the first Asian-born player to win a Grand Slam singles crown.