Philippines boxing star Manny Pacquiao is not only the best boxer today but also happens to be the sport's richest fighter. The eight time world champion earned $52.5 million (Php2.250 billion) last year, easily landing him a spot in the Fortunate 50 list of Sports Illustrated's highest earning athletes.
The 32 year old Filipino boxing sensation is ranked fourth behind top golfers Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and tennis star Roger Federer. He is second behind Federer, owner of 16 grand slam titles, in the list of the highest paid non American athletes.
The earnings represented the prize money and endorsement made by Pacquiao in 2010, the year he collected $20 million each in the two fights he had with Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito for the WBO welterweight tittle and WBC super welterweight crown respectively.
Only last month, Pacquiao upped his ante by netting a total of $30 million (almost Php 1.3 billion) for successfully defending his WBO 147 belt opposite Sugar Shane Mosley with a 12 round one sided decision. Pacquiao who is guaranteed a $ 20 million prize purse for the Mosley fight, is the only boxer to make SI list and comes in the wake of a recent Forbes ranking where the reigning pound for pound king placed 24th in the World's 50 highest paid athletes with the net earning of $25 million.
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