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"James Rodríguez (cropped)" by Copa2014.gov.br.  Licensed under CC BY 3.0 br via Wikimedia Commons.
"James Rodríguez (cropped)" by Copa2014.gov.br.  Licensed under CC BY 3.0 br via Wikimedia Commons.

These are the highest-paid Hispanic sport stars

Fifteen out of 100 Hispanic athletes made it into the Forbes’ ¨2015 list of the world's highest-paid sports stars.”

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In cinema 2015’s Oscar winner for Best Director is Mexican. In gastronomy, 18 Hispanic restaurants are among the 100 best restaurants of the world list; in literature, check out our “not New York Times” summer reading list which includes some renowned Latinos in that field. But, if there is a field where Hispanics are really recognized for their excellence it is sports. Which explains why 15 out of 100 of Forbes’ ¨2015 list of the world's highest-paid sports stars¨ speak Spanish.

The Dominican Republic (with 4) and Spain (with 3) are the two Hispanic countries with highest number of athletes featured on the list. Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina have two athletes each. Mexico and Uruguay have one a piece.

F.C. Barcelona player Lionel Messi is the best paid Latino athlete and the fourth best paid in the world. According to Forbes, the Argentinian soccer player was paid $73.8 million between June 2014 and June 2015 — Messi’s salary was $51.8 million but he earned an additional $22 million thanks to endorsements.

The next Hispanic sport star on the list is F1 driver Fernando Alonso — the Spanish athlete earned $35.5 million and he is ranked 17. He is followed closely by tennis player Rafa Nadal, ranked 22, with a $32.5 million salary.
 

"Rafael Nadal at the 2011 Australian Open14" by Christopher Johnson (globalite) - originally posted to Flickr as IMG_6940. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons -.

 

Colombian-born soccer star James Rodriguez is featured at number 27, thanks to the $29 million he earned in 2015. Two spots behind Rodriguez, at number 30, is Dominican baseball player Robinson Cano ($27.6 million).

The second Colombian on the list is soccer player Radamel Falcao, ranked 38 ($25.9 million). He shares the spot with other Latino, Albert Pujols, born in the Dominican Republic.
Baseball star Miguel Cabrera is the next Latino on the list. He is from Venezuela and is ranked 43, thanks to a $22.1 million salary. Argentinian soccer player Sergio Agüero is at number 45  (he earned $24.9 million); while Venezuelan-born baseball player Felix Hernández is ranked 60 ($22.9 million).
Baseball star Adrian Gonzalez was born in the United States but his parents are from Mexico. He is ranked 69 on the list of the world's highest-paid sports stars, with a $21.5 million salary, and is followed by Uruguayan soccer biter-player, Luis Suárez (73).
The next Hispanic athletes in the ranking are Spanish soccer player Cesc Fábregas and Dominican-born baseball player Hanley Ramirez. They both share spot 79, because they earned $20.3 million in 2015. The last Latino sports star in Forbes’ ranking (89) is David Ortiz. He is from the Dominican Republic and earned $19.7 million. 

 

Boxers are the highest-paid athletes

The Fight of the Century may not be the best fight the world has ever watched, but for sure it was for the two boxers in the ring. The fight made Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao the highest-paid athletes of 2015. Mayweather was the best paid of the list, he earned $300 million. His rival, Pacquiao, is ranked second at $160 million.

The number three spot goes to Portuguese  soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo ($79.6 million). Swiss tennis player Roger Federer ($67 million) was fifth; followed by LeBron James ($64.8 million), sixth; and Kevin Durant ($54.1 million), seventh. 

American Golfers Phil Mickelson ($50.8 million) and Tiger Woods ($50.6 million) also made it to the highest-paid list. Basketball player  Kobe Bryant ($49.5 millones) and Football player Ben Roethlisberger ($48.9 million) are in the “top 10.”

 

Only two women

Unfortunately, women’s names are rare in the Forbes list. Only two women are featured. The first is Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova. She earned $29.7 million and is ranked 26. The next and the last women in the ranking (47) is another tennis player, Serena Williams, who earned $24.6 million in 2015.

Baseball is the sport with most athletes on the highest-paid list, 27 in total. Basketball is well paid too, 18 out of 100 are basketball players. Soccer (15) and football (16) have a significant number of sport stars on the Forbes’ ranking as well. It’s more difficult to made it onto the list if you are a tennis player (only 7 are featured on the list), a golfer (6), a Formula 1 driver (4), a boxer (3) or a car race driver (2). Only one cricket player and one track star are among the best paid.

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