Pacman ranked 5th in Sports Illustrated's rich list

MANILA, Philippines - From the distinguished Forbes magazine to Sports Illustrated’s (SI) list of the world’s highest-earning athletes.

Manny Pacquiao, the Filipino boxing icon, landed in fifth spot of SI’s 20 highest-paid athletes with his estimated $38 million in earnings in 2010. He was No. 3 last year in the sports magazine’s list.

Pacquiao recently made his debut in Forbes magazine’s own list of highest-paid sportsmen. He was in sixth place, sharing the spot with NBA star Lebron James and golf champion Phil Mickelson, with earnings of $40 million for 2010.

Pacquiao is the hottest boxer in the planet today, and commands a guaranteed purse of at least $12 million for each fight. He earns as much on endorsements, appearance fees, and sales of merchandise bearing his name or image.

The 31-year-old welterweight champion is set to fight in November and could have easily made $40 million if it was against Floyd Mayweather Jr. But negotiations for the fight bogged down, but it may happen in May next year.

Tennis star Roger Federer topped the SI list that included seven football players, five from motorsports, three from tennis, two baseball players and two NBA stars, according to a report that came out in ABS-CBN yesterday.

The list was arrived at following computations of the athletes’ earnings from June 2009 to June this year. Inside that period, Pacquiao had two big fights and two big wins over Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey.

Federer, who was at No. 9 last year, topped this year’s list with $61,768,110, dislodging soccer star David Beckham who is now at No. 3. Argentine Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona moved up to No. 2 with $44 million.

Another football superstar, Portugese Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, came in at No. 4 with $40 million.