Down but definitely not out.
Filipino pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao slid from third to fifth, but remained the only boxer in Sports Illustrated’s top 20 list of highest-earning international athletes, excluding Americans.
Pacquiao, boxing’s lone seven-division world champion, is estimated to have earned $38 million from his last two fights against Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto last Nov. 14 and Ghanaian Joshua Clottey on March 13 plus endorsements and appearance fees.
The ballpark figure puts Pacquiao, who’s slated to fight either Cotto or Mexican Antonio Margarito on Nov. 13, in the company of tennis star Roger Federer of Switzerland and three football superstars.
From last year’s No. 9, Federer stormed to the top spot, toppling erstwhile leader David Beckham of Britain, with $61,768,110.
Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy dropped to third with earnings of $40.5 million, behind Argentine football star Lionel Messi, who banked $44 million. Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid ranked fourth with a $40 million windfall.
Among those deemed “poorer” than Pacquiao are the Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming of China (8th with $34,378,325) and tennis No. 1 Rafael Nadal (9th with $27,466,515).
Also in the magic 10 are Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki ($37 million), Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi ($35 million) and McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton ($26.7 million).