Manny Pacquiao Earnings and the Best Paid Athletes 2010-2011

Have you asked how much is Manny Pacquiao’s earnings? Just how much money he is making from the sports of boxing? ESPN The Magazine, in its May 2011 “all about the money” issue, publishes the best-paid athletes in 30 sports. The athletes were ranked based on their official base salary or earnings from the most recently completed season or calendar year. Their earnings exclude endorsements, appearance fees, sponsorship money and other sources of extra income.

Manny Pacquiao, with a $32 million (roughly 1.4 billion in Philippine pesos!) estimated purse in two fights in 2010, ties the no. 1 spot with Alex Rodriguez, an American Major League Baseball third baseman for the New York Yankees. Rodriquez estimated $32 million earnings come from his 2011 salary. So the business of boxing and baseball top the highest paying sports today according to the list.

Racecar driver Kimi Raikkonen follows Pacquiao and Rodriquez with a $26,333,333 from his World Rally Championship 2010 race winnings (plus $12.7M from severed F1 contract). NBA superstar Kobe Bryant got an estimated salary of $24,800,000 from his NBA 2010-2011 salary; while Portuguese footballer and soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo has a $19,500,000 estimated earnings from his 2010-2011 salary from Spanish La Liga club.

Other best-paid athletes in their respective sports include the following:

Horse Racing: Ramon A. Dominguez – 2010 Earnings (not individual share) – $17,411,880
Football: Peyton Manning – NFL 2010 Salary – $15,800,000
Tennis (Men): Rafael Nadal – ATP 2010 Prize Money – $10,171,998
Hockey: tie for Vincent Lecavalier and Roberto Luongo  -NHL 2010-11 Salary – $10,000,000
Poker: Jonathan Duhamel – Various Land-Based Tournament Winnings – $9,443,519
Golf (Men): Luke Donald European – Tour PGA 2010 Tournament Winnings – $5,867,601
MMA: Brock Lesnar – UFC Estimated Prize Money and ppv share – $5,300,000
Tennis (Women): Kim Clijsters – WTA 2010 Prize Money – $5,035,060
Golf (Women): Na Yeon Choi – LPGA 2010 Tournament Winnings – $1,871,165
Bull Riding: Renato Nunes – Professional Bull Riders 2010 Prize Money – $1,594,527
Equestrian (Men): McLain Ward – Show Jumping 2010 Earnings – $1,280,788
Darts: Phil Taylor – Professional Darts Corporation 2010 Prize Money – $1,044,000
Fishing: Kevin Vandam – Bassmaster Elite Series 2010 Earnings – $915,500
Surfing (Men): Kelly Slater – ASP World Tour 2010 Prize Money – $516,000
Sumo Wrestling: Hakuho – Japan Sumo Association 2010 Salary – $400,000
Eating: Joey Chestnut – Major League Eating 2010 Earnings – $218,500

For the complete list of the best-paid athletes in 30 sports in 2010-2011 please visit and read the story at ESPN page.

Update: The Forbes has released on May 31, 2011 their list of the 50 highest-paid athletes in the world. Check it out here.

Photo credits to Bryce Edwards (Flicker Creative Commons image – Attribution required).