FOOTBALLERS often get a bad rap for their astronomical earnings.
Alexis Sanchez rakes in £505,000 a week from Manchester United, while Mesut Ozil is paid £350,000 per week to warm the bench.
Boxing and UFC earn the most money per game, match or race
Canelo Alvarez earned the most money per game, fight or race in all of sport in the past yearCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Tyson Fury sits fifth on the list, behind only fellow boxers and a UFC starCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
But in truth, footballers are forced to work very hard for their money… compared to fighters, at least.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are two of the highest-earning sports stars in the world.
In fact, Forbes rank them at second and third in their rich-list, respectively.
But in terms of money earned per day’s work, they are MILES off the top-earners, according to US-Bookies.com.
Incredibly, Canelo Alvarez tops that chart – raking in a staggering £27.8MILLION for his single fight in the past year.
Alvarez beat Sergey Kovalev via 11th-round stoppage to win the WBO light-heavyweight title.
Now-retired MMA star Conor McGregor ranks second, pocketing a cool £25.4m for his last bout.
And the theme of fighters raking in monster sums continues down the list…
Deontay Wilder (£18.3m), Anthony Joshua (£14.3m) and Tyson Fury (£13.2m) complete the top five on our list.
Formula One star Lewis Hamilton – a six-time world champion – sits sixth on our list, which excludes NBA, NFL and MLB stars, at £2.2m per race.
And Neymar beats Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the mantle of top-earning footballer per game.
The Brazilian has taken home £2.1m per match, compared to Ron’s £1.2m and Leo’s £1.4m – mostly due to him missing so many games through injury.
F1 stars Sebastian Vettel (£1.9m) and Daniel Ricciardo (£1.7m) – as well as Man Utd ace Paul Pogba (£1.4m) – ALL sit above Ronaldo and Messi in our list.
Conor McGregor ranks extraordinarily high on the money per fight listCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Cristiano Ronaldo sits way down the list having played so often in the past yearCredit: AFP or licensors
But spare a thought for tennis players…
The world’s richest sports star, according to Forbes, is Roger Federer.
But due to the sheer volume of matches played, he raked in just £71,000 per match in the past year – sitting way down the list.
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
