Forbes Reveals the Highest-Paid Athletes of the Decade

Forbes typically informs us of the highest-paid athletes each and every year, and now that we're nearing the end of 2019, it's time to look at the biggest names in sports that earned the most over the last decade.

Floyd "Money" Mayweather has really lived up to his nickname the past 10 years, earning about $915 million over that span. Even more crazy is the fact that about $500 million of that came from just two fights (2015 vs. Manny Pacquiao and 2017 vs. Conor McGregor).

Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, LeBron James and Roger Federer followed Mayweather. All of those athletes are the biggest names in their respective sports, which has helped them earn millions more in endorsements and advertisements as global icons.

While some may argue these athletes are making too much money, it's important to note how much revenue each big name brings to their respective leagues and franchises. For example, when LeBron went back to Cleveland in 2014, the Cavs were valued at $515 million. When he decided to leave four years later for the Lakers, Dan Gilbert's franchise was valued at $1.3 billion.

Rounding out the top-10 highest-paid athletes of the decade were Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Manny Pacquiao, Kevin Durant and Lewis Hamilton (Formula 1 racing).