MANILA: Senator Manny Pacquiao has been named among the top 10 highest paid athletes of the decade.
Pacquiao, fondly known as “Pacman” was named the eighth richest by Forbes with US$435 million.
The Manila Times said Pacquiao’s earnings were boosted by his 25 pay-per-view (PPV) fights that generated 20 million buys for an estimated US$1.3 billion in revenue.
Pacquiao’s long-time nemesis, the retired but undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr, topped the list with US$915 million, bringing in over US$500 million with victories over Pacquiao in 2015 and Conor McGregor in 2017.
Pacquiao was guaranteed US$10 million in each of his two fights last year.
He had a unanimous decision victory over Adrien Broner on Jan 19 and a split-decision win over Keith Thurman on July 20.
Both fights were held in Las Vegas, the United States.
Pacquiao also earned over US$6.2 million in live gate revenue from the 11,436 tickets sold in his last fight with Thurman. In the Broner fight, he made around US$6 million from the 11,410 tickets sold.
His 2015 bout against Mayweather remains his highest-grossing fight in terms of PPV buys with US$4.6 million.
There was speculation that a Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch could be arranged next year.
Football megastar Cristiano Ronaldo was second in Forbes’ list with US$800 million in earnings, followed by footballer Lionel Messi with US$750 million.
The National Basketball Association’s (NBA) superplayer LeBron James was fourth with US$680 million.
Tennis legend Roger Federer was in fifth place with US$640 million, followed by international golfers Tiger Woods (US$615 million) and Phil Mickelson (US$480 million) in sixth and seventh places respectively.
Another NBA standout, Kevin Durant, was ninth with US$425 million.
Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton was 10th with US$400 million.