Forbes Top 10 Highest Paid Athletes of the Decade

You are likely to amass a lot of wealth if you are the best athlete in your choice of sport. Professional athletes make rake in a lot in 7 figure doing what they do and what they really want in their lives.

Forbes Top 10 Highest Paid Athletes of the Decade

Some athletes looking at their portfolio of endorsements and annual salaries can boast of being richer that some businessmen, in a recent list Forbes magazine has released the list of the highest-paid athletes in the world in the past decade, and it will really amaze you.

• 10. Lewis Hamilton: $400 Million
• 9. Kevin Durant: $425 Million
• 8. Manny Pacquiao: $435 Million
• 7. Phil Mickelson: $480 Million
• 6. Tiger Woods: $615 Million
• 5. Roger Federer: $640 Million
• 4. LeBron James: $680 Million
• 3. Lionel Messi: $750 Million
• 2. Cristiano Ronaldo: $800 Million
• 1. Floyd Mayweather: $915 Million

#10 Lewis Hamilton: $400 million

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton MBE HonFREng is a British race car driver with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport competing in Formula One. He is a six-time Formula One World Champion and is considered to be one of the best drivers in the world in sport history.

Forbes remarked that “The six-time F1 World Champion is the most marketable athlete in the sport and commands the biggest paycheck.”

#9 Kevin Durant: $425 million

Kevin Wayne Durant is a professional American basketball player for the National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets. He played for the University of Texas one season of college basketball and was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics as the second overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft.

Forbes magazine said” Durant’s annual earnings from his salary and endorsements jumped 400% during the course of the decade.”

#8 Manny Pacquiao: $435 million

Pacquaio was named the 8th richest althlete of the decade, Forbes Magazine disclosed that “Pacquiao’s 25 pay-per-view fights have generated 20 million buys and an estimated $1.3 billion in revenue.”

#7 Phil Mickelson: $480 million

The professional American golfer Mickelson bagged a massive paycheck in his golfing career in 2018, this came about after he defeating Tiger Woods and carting away $9 million,  diamond-studded belt to commemorate his victory and what he called “bragging rights”.

Mickelson is also good when playing with a golf simulator, so it’s no longer surprising to see him endorsing a launch monitor model of a giant sports tech brand soon.

#6 Tiger Woods: $615 million

Tiger Woods is all about a brand name, a name that will stay relevant for a longer period of time even after now, he has bagged very massive endorsements from top brands in the last decade.

#5 Roger Federer: $640 million

Federer is a 38-year-old sportsman that rose to prominence in the world of Tennis,  he bagged an impressive $300 million endorsement deal with Uniqlo in 2018.

#4 LeBron James: $680 million

LeBron James has grown to a world brand name, his impressive basketball skills have attracted lot of sweetest deals and endorsements across all sectors in the 16 years of his career in the NBA, his $270 million in playing salary is a tip of the iceberg when compared to the value of this brand endorsements.

#3 Lionel Messi: $750 million

Lionel is one professional footballer and athlete with unmatched and innate football skills that the world can’t get enough of him yet, he has managed to dish out the best of performance within the last few years and he is worth this mention on the list of highest-paid athletes of the decade.

#2 Cristiano Ronaldo: $800 million

Ronaldo’s is the second on the list of Forbes highest-paid athlete of the decade, no doubt Ronaldo has impressive and unmatched sportsmanship and that has paid off heavily for him in terms of flowing endorsements and partnership deals, he also has the second costliest Instagram page in the world.

#1 Floyd Mayweather: $915 million

Floyd Mayweather remains the highest paid athlete of the decade according to Forbes magazine, he’s pocketed way more than  $500 million just within 2015 and 2017 fights with the likes of Conor McGregor and Manny Pacquiao.

Sources: Forbes Magazine | Image: tiggerdroppings