Pacquiao vs Mosley: Pacquiao best paid athlete in 2010.

SOURCE: PhilStar Sports

MANILA, Philippines - Manny Pacquiao is truly hard to match, almost impossible, on and off the ring.

For one, he’d gone undefeated in 13 fights stretching back to March of 2005, in the process becoming the only boxer in history to win eight world titles in as many weight classes.

Last year, he fought twice, and of course, won twice. He defeated and crushed fighters bigger, taller and heavier than him, Joshua Clottey in March and Antonio Margarito in November.

For these two fights, the fighting congressman from the Philippines earned an estimated $32 million, based on a report that will come out of the May 2, 2011 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

The $32 million, based on the current dollar-to-peso exchange rate, is equivalent to P1.376 billion. If he had all that money, he can spend P3,769,863 a day for 365 days before he runs out of cash.

It was enough to earn Pacquiao a new tag: The Best Paid Athlete of Year 2010. He shared the pricy distinction with only one other athlete, Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.

The Magazine placed Pacquiao and Rodriguez, the 35-year-old third baseman, tied on top with earnings of $32 million each for 2010 or “the most recently completed season or calendar year.”

The amount excludes endorsement and appearance fees, sponsorship deals and other sources of extra income, the ESPN report also said.

Thirty sports were part of the report, and it featured 32 men and 11 women athletes for a staggering total of $238,536,500 or an average of $5,547,360 per athlete.

Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen came in next with race winnings of $26,333,333 last year, and just behind him was NBA superstar Kobe Bryant with $24,800.000.

Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, now playing for Real Madrid, scooped up $19.5 million last year. Up next was horseracing’s Ramon Dominguez with $17,411,880.

Rafael Nadal, the grand slam king of tennis, ranked next with $10,171,998, followed by Golfer Luke Donald of the European Tour PGA with $5,867,601 and Kim Clijsters with $5,035,060.