<<Print>>

No longer golf's world No 1, Tiger Woods has also now been deposed as sport's highest earner after an 11-year reign. Woods has slipped to third in the world's 100 highest-paid athletes list conducted by Forbes behind two boxers, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather collected a total of 85million US dollars (�54.2m) for his two fights with Victor Ortiz in September and Miguel Cotto last month. Forbes senior editor Kurt Badenhausen said: 'There's a reason they call boxer Floyd Mayweather 'Money'. 'He fought twice during the past 12 months, spent less than one hour in the ring to dispatch his two foes - his combined payday for the bouts: 85 million dollars. 'Mayweather maximises his earnings by also acting as his own fight promoter through his company Mayweather Promotions. 'He collects all of the revenue from tickets, pay-per-view and sponsorships and covers the costs, including the purse for his opponent.' Mayweather is unable to spend his millions at the moment as he is serving a three-month jail sentence in Las Vegas for domestic battery. Pacquiao, at the centre of a boxing furore after controversially losing his WBO welterweight title to Timothy Bradley, trails in �14.6m behind Mayweather, with Woods picking up �37.8m in total, with just �2.8m of that in earnings as the remainder comes from sponsorship endorsements. David Beckham remains the highest earning footballer, picking up �29.3m, with �23.5m in endorsements, followed closely by Cristiano Ronaldo, with Lionel Messi just outside the top 10 in 11th. Fernando Alonso comes in as Formula One's top earner at 19th with overall earnings of �29.4m, with MotoGP's seven-times champion Valentino Rossi 20th and seven-times F1 king Michael Schumacher 21st. Lewis Hamilton is 24th, with Forbes suggesting earnings of �17.8m, with �15.9m of that in salary from McLaren, with Manchester United star Wayne Rooney at 37th with �15.5m. Other notables see golf's current world number one Luke Donald at 48th, earning �14.17m, Chelsea captain John Terry equal 88th with �11.17m, Rory McIlroy 91st with �11.1m and Liverpool and England skipper Steven Gerrard 97th with �10.8m. Just two women figure in the top 100, both from tennis, with world number one in Maria Sharapova 26th and Li Na 81st.