Anthony Joshua, Antetokounmpo emerge Forbes’ highest-paid athletes

British professional boxer who is a two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Greek professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association Giannis Antetokounmpo have been listed in the top 20 of the Forbes’ latest list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world.

Antetokounmpo, who plays for Greece is 18th on the list with $47.6m in earnings from basketball and endorsements, while Joshua is 19th on the list with earnings worth $47m.

Roger Federer takes the top spot for the first time, with $106m of pre-tax earnings, edging past Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who have swapped the No. 1 spot in three of the past four years.

The two soccer icons earned a combined $209m during the past 12 months, a $28m drop from 2019, due to salary reductions at many European soccer clubs when league play was halted in March.

The 100 highest-paid athletes earned a combined $3.6bn this year, which is 9 percent below 2019 and the first decline since 2016, when boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao skewed the results with a $400m payout from their May 2015 “Fight of the Century” pay-per-view bout.

Athletes from 21 countries and 10 sports make the final cut this year, as do two women — Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams – the first time more than one woman has made the ranks since 2016, when Williams appeared with Maria Sharapova.

Osaka, who earned $3.4m in tournament pay, is another dream endorser, collecting $34m from brands including Nike, Nissan Motor and Procter & Gamble. No female athlete from any other sport besides tennis has ever made this elite rank.