He earns $2.7 million a year, has a model wife, a huge property portfolio and lost his brother in a car crash at 16: The amazing life of shark attack survivor Mick Fanning

• Australian surfing legend Mick Fanning fights off shark during competition
• Footage shows the massive killer's fin emerge from water behind Fanning 
• 34-year-old was knocked off the board in the attack and fought for his life
• 'I was waiting for the teeth to come... I punched him on the back,' he said 

By Sarah Michael for Daily Mail Australia and Australian Associated Press

Published: 02:20 EST, 20 July 2015 | Updated: 11:58 EST, 20 July 2015

Australian pro-surfer Mick Fanning is the most talked about athlete in the world right now after he miraculously walked away from a shark attack totally unharmed. 

The three-time world champion punched a great white that tried to attack him while he was competing in the final of the J-Bay Open at South Africa's Jeffreys Bay on Sunday.

As he came out of the water in a state of shock the 34-year-old said he would be happy to never surf again.

And while friends expect him to regroup and get back in the water in time for next month’s World Surf League event in Tahiti, there is a lot more to Fanning than professional surfing.

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Australian pro-surfer Mick Fanning, pictured in 2003, is the most talked about athlete in the world right now

The 34-year-old is married to entrepreneur and model Karissa Fanning, who he met through friends in 2004

Amazing footage of Australian surfing legend Mick Fanning fighting off a shark was captured on camera

Fanning is a savvy property investor who has built up an impressive multi-million-dollar portfolio around the beachside town of Tweed Heads, on the border between NSW and Queensland, where he lives with the love of his life, entrepreneur and model Karissa Fanning.

Fanning is Australia’s highest paid surfer and 19th highest-paid athlete, making an estimated $2.7 million last year according to the BRW Rich List.

Along with the income he makes from surfing and sponsorship, Fanning has an interest in a popular Reef Sandal range that has a bottle opener embedded in the sole.

And the 34-year-old has always been a savvy investor, with property records showing he purchased his first Tweed Heads apartment for $170,000 in 2000, when he was just 19 years old.

Shocking moment surfer fights off shark on live TV

The couple are pictured at the Laureus World Sports Awards Welcome Party in  Abu Dhabi in 2010

Ms Fanning is an event stylist who founded her own wedding website The Lane

The couple got engaged in 2006 after dating for two years and were married in 2008

He started building his property portfolio up in 2005 when he purchased a $1.39 million property in nearby Coolangatta.

Fanning followed this up with the purchase of three more properties on the same Coolangatta street, including a $1.2 million property in 2006 and two separate $3.1 million units in 2007.

In 2011 Fanning spent $3.25 million on a 1030sq m beachfront block of land at Bilinga, on which he built a luxury timber home for himself and his wife.

The couple married in 2008, after meeting through mutual friends in 2004.

Fanning looks to the skies as he recalls the moment he was almost bitten by a shark (right with him is fellow champion Kelly Slater)

Ms Fanning said unlike many other surfers’ wives and girlfriends she doesn’t go on tour full time

Family is extremely important to Fanning – whose first call following his terrifying shark attack was to his mother Elizabeth Osborne

Ms Fanning is an event stylist who founded her own wedding website The Lane, which she runs from the Gold Coast.

She told a 2014 Sunday Style profile that Fanning won her over with a roast dinner when she was just 21 years old. She was just 23 when he proposed in 2006.

Ms Fanning said unlike many other surfers’ wives and girlfriends, she doesn’t go on tour with her husband full time, preferring to stay in Australia to grow her business.

‘It's nice that, when we do have a break together, we can have that outside of surfing,’ Ms Fanning told the magazine. 

Surfer Mick Fanning speaks immediately after shark attack

Fanning at the the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in Torquay, Victoria in 2000

2009 ASP World Champions Stephanie Gilmore from Tweed Heads (left) and Mick Fanning, also from Tweed Heads, pose after receiving their ASP World Title Trophies

ASP World Champion Mick Fanning after he was presented with his official ASP World Title trophy at ASP World Champions Crowning Ceremony at the Gold Coast in 2008

Family is extremely important to Fanning – whose first call following his terrifying shark attack was to his mother Elizabeth Osborne.

Ms Osborne was watching from her Gold Coast living room when the shark attack was broadcast on live TV.

'I just stood up and ran over to the television and really felt like I wanted to pull him out of the television,' Osborne told the ABC through tears.

"I was so scared. I just thought when that wave came through that he'd gone."

Osborne's thoughts turned to her late son Sean, who died 17 years ago when Fanning was 16.

Fanning pictured in 2001, one year after he started his property portfolio with the purchase of a unit

Fanning as he celebrates his win of the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast in 2007

Along with the income he makes from surfing and sponsorship, Fanning has an interest in a popular Reef Sandal range that has a bottle opener embedded in the sole

'When Sean was killed in the car accident, I didn't see it. I saw this just in front of me. It was just terrible,' she said.

In Fanning’s 2009 book Surf For Your Life, he described the agony of being the first person in his family to learn of Sean’s death, and having to tell both his mother and father the devastating news.

He said his brother’s death helped him focus on achieving his dream of become a pro-surfer – something he and Sean had wanted to do together.

‘It's just really made me appreciate life more. I had known people who died before that - and I was rattled by it - but when it hit so close to home it was so different,’ Fanning wrote in the book.

‘I began thinking about what I wanted: I want to be a pro surfer, and that's what I'm going to do.’

Fanning went on to win the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour in 2007, 2009 and 2013.

On Sunday, Fanning described the moment he realised a great white shark was behind him as terrifying, saying: 'I was waiting for the teeth to come at me.' 

Is this the shark that later attacked Mick Fanning at J-Bay?

The distressing situation could be easily seen from the coast, with footage showing the shark thrashing around

The three-time world champion was able to get away from the beast by punching it in the back

Footage released by the World Surf League (WSL) shows the shark’s fin emerge from the water before following Fanning as he paddled out of the shallows.

The three-time world champion, who was competing against fellow Australian Julian Wilson in the final, can be seen being knocked off his board before he attempts to use it as a shield to stop the shark biting him.

The clip ends with him being hauled into a rescue boat by officials and brought back to the shore.

Speaking after the incident, Fanning - who was miraculously uninjured and only lost a leg rope in the incident - said: 'It came up and got stuck in my leg rope.

'I instantly just jumped away. It kept coming at my board and I was kicking and screaming. 

'I just saw fins. I punched it in the back.' 

Julian Wilson in tears as he recounts Mick Fanning shark attack

Footage shows the shark's fin slowly rise out of the water, before lunging at Fanning, who had to fight for his life

After his close shave, Fanning was embraced by U.S. surfer Kelly Slater who watched the incident unfold

Fanning's rival in the finals, fellow Australian Julian Wilson (in red), was in the water at the time of the attack

Commentator Ross Williams said the incident was one of the craziest things he had seen in a competition. 

'No one has ever seen anyone attacked in a heat... it was such a scary thing to see him come off his board,' he said.

Fanning's manager Ronnie Blakey said he feared the worst as he watched the attack unfold.

'At one point I was sitting on beach and I was thinking we’re watching a three-time world champion die here, that was the reality of the situation,' Mr Blakey told Triple M's The Grill Team.

'At worst I was thinking if he isn't dead maybe he's lost a limb.'

Fanning's rival in the finals, fellow Australian Julian Wilson, was in the water at the time of the attack and broke down in tears as he described watching the incident unfold.

'It came up and he was wrestling it, I saw the whole thing, then I saw he got knocked off his board and then like a little wave popped up and I just thought, he’s gone, he’s gone under,' Wilson said.

'And I felt like I couldnt get there quick enough.'

U.S. surfing champion Kelly Slater shared an emotional embrace with Fanning after the attack, and said he was shocked that the Australian escaped unharmed.

'I'm halfway between crying and laughing because he got so lucky. I'm lost for words to be honest,' Slater said. 

Fanning was knocked off his board and battled the beast desperately until he could be hauled into a rescue boat by officials

During one particularly scary moment in the footage, Fanning (pictured far right) can be seen swimming away from his surfboard as he attempts to get away

'We almost just watched our friend get eaten by a shark and I'm just blown away that there's no damage at all.'

Spectator Kaylee Smit told News24: 'We were all watching and then all of a sudden you could see the fin so we knew it was a shark.

'We could see the splashing and he was knocked off his board. 

'I thought this guy was going to die in front of us, it was so hectic.

'It was surreal. The whole crowd rose to their feet in complete silence and then that was broken by the announcer screaming over the information system for people to get out of the water. 

'I am still in shock and I am shaking.' 

Fans also responded to the incident on social media, with many commending Fanning's bravery.  

Wilson (in red) broke down in tears as he described the attack, saying he thought Fanning was 'gone'

Rescuers used jet skis to get into the water and made sure both Fanning and Australian Julian Wilson, who he was competing against, were safe

The pro surfer was comforted by Slater following the horrifying incident that Fanning miraculously escaped

One Facebook user dubbed the surfer as 'the next Chuck Norris', while another wrote: 'This guy is my hero'.

WSL deputy commissioner Renato Hickel confirmed the competition had been called off after two further sharks were spotted in the area.

The organisation initially announced the shock attack on Facebook, writing: 'Sharks are in the lineup. Thankfully, Mick Fanning is unharmed.

'The ‪#‎JBayOpen‬ has been cancelled.' 

WSL chief executive Paul Speaker later added: 'We are incredibly grateful that no one was seriously injured today.

Fanning looks relieved as he drives away from the J-Bay Samsung Galaxy Open in South Africa

The brave surfer looked exhausted as he caught his breath on a float on the back of a jet ski

Fanning can be seen standing in the shallows and talking to officials after being dragged away from the beast

The surfer was competing against  Wilson (pictured above in red) in the final, and was visibly shaken after he returned to dry land

Fanning shows off his incredible skills in the quarter final of the competition, which ended with him being attacked by a shark

The talented surfer, pictured in the quarter finals, has previously won the 2007, 2009 and 2013 ASP World Tour

The competition has been called off for the day, after organisers said two sharks had been spotted in the area

'Mick's composure and quick acting in the face of a terrifying situation was nothing short of heroic and the rapid response of our Water Safety personnel was commendable - they are truly world class at what they do. 

'The safety of our athletes is a priority for the WSL and, after discussions with both Finalists, we have decided to cancel the remainder of competition at the #JBayOpen.

'We appreciate the ongoing support we have in South Africa and once again want to express our gratitude to the Water Safety Team.' 

The waters are some of the most shark-infested in the world, according to Reuters. 

The last reported incident of a surfer being killed by a Great White shark close to Jeffreys Bay was in 2013.

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