Mayweather and Pacquiao World's Highest Paid Athletes 2015

Floyd "Money" Mayweather took his nick name to the bank in 2015. This time though he took Manny Pacquiao with him. In ESPN The Magazine's annual list of highest paid athletes Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao topped the list, leaving every other sport and plater in the dust, and not even close to their record breaking numbers. Floyd Mayweather topped the list with an annual earnings of $250 million followed by Manny Pacquiao in the number two spot with $150 million. The next spot on the couldn't even get into the same ballpark. Barcelona's Lionel Messi was in third almost $100 million dollars behind Manny Pacquiao earning a total of $56.3 million. Here's a brief list of the world's top twenty-five highest paid athlete's according to ESPN The Magazine. Forbes's annual list will be out next month which will not only include a more accurate number, but also Floyd Mayweather's fight against Marcos Maidana in September and Manny Pacquiao's fight against Chris Algieri in November which could give both of them an even higher number. Floyd Mayweather's projected $250 million dollar earnings will make him the highest paid athlete in a single year in history. Manny Pacquiao will be right behind him as both are expected to shatter Tiger Woods' previous record of $115 million set in 2008.

World's Highest-Paid Athletes

RANK ATHLETE LEAGUE/TEAM EARNINGS

1 Floyd Mayweather WBA/WBC champion $250M (a)

2 Manny Pacquiao Former WBO champion $150M (a)

3 Lionel Messi La Liga/Barcelona $56.3M

4 Cristiano Ronaldo La Liga/Real Madrid $50.2M

5 Sebastian Vettel Formula 1/Ferrari $50M

6 Fernando Alonso Formula 1/McLaren $40M

7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic Ligue 1/PSG $35.1M

8 Lewis Hamilton Formula 1/Mercedes $31M

8 Clayton Kershaw MLB/LA Dodgers $31M

9 Justin Verlander MLB/Detroit Tigers $28M

10 Zack Greinke MLB/LA Dodgers $27M

12 Wayne Rooney EPL/Manchester United $26M

13 Josh Hamilton MLB/Texas Rangers $25M

13 Ryan Howard MLB/Philadelphia Phillies $25M

13 Cliff Lee MLB Philadelphia Phillies $25M

16 Felix Hernandez MLB/Seattle Mariners $24.9M

17 Albert Pujols MLB/LA Angels $24M

17 Robinson Cano MLB/Seattle Mariners $24M

17 Prince Fielder MLB/Texas Rangers $24M

20 Cole Hamels MLB/Philadelphia Phillies $23.5M

20 Kobe Bryant NBA/LA Lakers $23.5M

22 Amar'e Stoudemire NBA/NY Knicks/Dallas $23.4M

23 Joe Johnson NBA/Brooklyn Nets $23.2M

24 Mark Teixeira MLB/NY Yankees $23.1M

25 Joe Mauer MLB/Minnesota Twins $23M

25 CC Sabathia MLB/NY Yankees $23M

(a) Estimated