Ranker

Anime Underground

Button Mash

Graveyard Shift

Total Nerd

Unspeakable Times

Weird History

Weird Nature

Weirdly Interesting

Sports

Music

Entertainment

Living

Culture

Food

Makeup

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Holidays

Watchworthy

HBO Max

pageType

exclude_RLblocks

ticker_exclude

site_wide_RL_exclude

Athletes

The Best Athletes of 2011

Best Athletes Lists, Top 10 Athletes- Find any Athlete List at Ranker

Person In Sports

Best Rankings of Sports Teams and Players, Interesting Sports Facts, and Moments in Sports

sports

The Round Mound

Jon Jones

Jonathan Dwight Jones (born July 19, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist who is signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional fighters of all-time, he is the current and two-time undisputed UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He has been his weight class' champion since December 29, 2018, and previously held the title from March 20, 2011, to April 28, 2015. Jones also held the interim UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, making him a three-time UFC champion overall. As of August 19, 2019, he is #1 in official UFC pound-for-pound rankings.At age 23, Jones became the youngest champion since the UFC instituted weight classes with his first title victory over Maurício Rua in 2011. He holds many UFC records in the light heavyweight division, including the most title defenses, most wins, longest win streak, and most submission victories. During the height of his championship reign, Jones was considered by many to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Never stopped nor outscored during his career, Jones' lone professional loss is a controversial disqualification against Matt Hamill, a result that Hamill and UFC President Dana White dispute.Between 2015 and 2017, Jones was involved in several controversies and lost his title three times time as a result of disciplinary action. He was first stripped of his title and removed from the official rankings by the UFC in 2015 after he was arrested on felony hit-and-run charges. His subsequent returns to the UFC in 2016 and 2017 saw him emerge victorious in title bouts against Ovince Saint Preux and Daniel Cormier, but were both cut short by Jones testing positive for banned substances and receiving further suspensions, with the latter reversed to a 'no contest'. After his 2017 suspension was lifted, Jones reclaimed the championship in 2018 by defeating Alexander Gustafsson and successfully defended it in his two following fights.Jones is the younger brother of former National Football League (NFL) player Arthur Jones and the older brother of current NFL player Chandler Jones.

Manny Pacquiáo

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, PLH ( PAK-ee-ow; Tagalog: [pɐkˈjaʊ]; born December 17, 1978) is a Filipino professional boxer and politician, currently serving as a senator of the Philippines. Pacquiao is regarded by many boxing historians as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time.He is the only eight-division world champion in the history of boxing, having won twelve major world titles, as well as being the first boxer to win the lineal championship in five different weight classes. Pacquiao is also the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the eight "glamour divisions" of boxing: flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.He was named "Fighter of the Decade" for the 2000s by the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and World Boxing Organization (WBO). He is also a three-time Ring magazine and BWAA Fighter of the Year, winning the award in 2006, 2008, and 2009, as well as the winner of the Best Fighter ESPY Award in 2009 and 2011.  In 2016, Pacquiao was ranked No. 2 on ESPN's list of top pound for pound boxers of the past 25 years and currently ranks No. 4 in BoxRec's ranking of the greatest pound for pound boxers of all time. World-renowned boxing expert and historian Bert Sugar ranked Pacquiao as the greatest southpaw fighter of all time.Pacquiao has generated approximately 20 million in pay-per-view buys and $1.2 billion in revenue from his 25 pay-per-view bouts. According to Forbes, he was the second highest paid athlete in the world as of 2015.Beyond boxing, Pacquiao has participated in basketball, business, TV hosting, acting, music recording and politics. In May 2010, Pacquiao was elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines, representing the province of Sarangani. He was re-elected in 2013 to the 16th Congress of the Philippines. In June 2016, Pacquiao was elected as a senator and will serve a six-year term until 2022.

Derrick Rose

Derrick Martell Rose (born October 4, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the Memphis Tigers before being drafted first overall by his hometown Chicago Bulls in the 2008 NBA draft. After being named the NBA Rookie of the Year, Rose, at age 22, became the youngest player to win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2011. He has played for the Bulls, Knicks, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, and Pistons over his 13 year career.

Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Werner Nowitzki (German pronunciation: [ˈdɪʁk ˈvɛʁnɐ noˈvɪtski]) (born June 19, 1978) is a German retired professional basketball player. An alumnus of Röntgen Gymnasium and the DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he played his entire 21-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. In the NBA, he won the league Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 2007, was an NBA champion in 2011, and was a 14-time All-Star.
Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), Nowitzki is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time and he is considered by many to be the greatest European player of all time. Nowitzki led the Mavericks to 15 NBA playoff appearances (2001–2012; 2014–2016), including the franchise's first Finals appearance in 2006 and its only NBA championship in 2011. Known for his scoring ability, his versatility, his accurate outside shooting, and his trademark fadeaway jump shot, Nowitzki won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2007 and the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in 2011.
Nowitzki's NBA career has been filled with accomplishments. He is the only player ever to play for a single franchise for 21 seasons. Nowitzki is a 14-time All-Star, a 12-time All-NBA Team member, the first European player to start in an All-Star Game, and the first European player to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Nowitzki is the highest-scoring foreign-born player in NBA history. He is the first Maverick voted onto an All-NBA Team and holds several all-time Mavericks franchise records. On December 10, 2012, he became the first non-American player to receive the Naismith Legacy Award. As of March 18, 2019, Nowitzki stood sixth on the list of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders.Nowitzki's career in international play is also noteworthy. He led the German national basketball team to a bronze medal in the 2002 FIBA World Championship and silver in EuroBasket 2005, and was the leading scorer and MVP in both tournaments.

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић, romanized: Novak Đoković, pronounced [nôʋaːk dʑôːkoʋitɕ] (listen); born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).Djokovic has won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, five ATP Finals titles, 33 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 12 ATP Tour 500 titles, and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for over 260 weeks. In majors, he has won a record seven Australian Open titles, five Wimbledon titles, three US Open titles, and one French Open title. Following his victory at the 2016 French Open, he became the eighth player in history to achieve the Career Grand Slam and the third man to hold all four major titles at once, the first since Rod Laver in 1969 and the first ever to do so on three different surfaces. He is the first and only male player to have won all nine of the Masters 1000 tournaments.Djokovic is the first Serbian player to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP and the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title. He is a six-time ITF World Champion and a five-time ATP year-end No. 1 ranked player. Djokovic has won numerous awards, including the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year (four times) and the 2011 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award. He is also a recipient of the Order of St. Sava, the Order of Karađorđe's Star, and the Order of the Republika Srpska.

Usain Bolt

Usain St Leo Bolt  (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter. He is a world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay. Owing to his achievements and dominance in sprint competition, he is widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time.An eight-time Olympic gold medallist, Bolt won the 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay at three consecutive Olympic Games, although he lost the 2008 relay gold medal in 2017 due to a teammate's doping disqualification. He gained worldwide fame for his double sprint victory in world record times at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which made him the first person to hold both records since fully automatic time became mandatory. Bolt is the only sprinter to win Olympic 100 m and 200 m titles at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016).
An eleven-time World Champion, he won consecutive World Championship 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 metres relay gold medals from 2009 to 2015, with the exception of a 100 m false start in 2011. He is the most successful athlete of the World Championships. Bolt is the first athlete to win four World Championship titles in the 200 m and is the joint-most successful in the 100 m with three titles.
Bolt improved upon his second 100 m world record of 9.69 with 9.58 seconds in 2009 – the biggest improvement since the start of electronic timing. He has twice broken the 200 metres world record, setting 19.30 in 2008 and 19.19 in 2009. He has helped Jamaica to three 4 × 100 metres relay world records, with the current record being 36.84 seconds set in 2012. Bolt's most successful event is the 200 m, with three Olympic and four World titles. The 2008 Olympics was his international debut over 100 m; he had earlier won numerous 200 m medals (including 2007 World Championship silver) and holds the world under-20 and world under-18 records for the event.
His achievements as a sprinter have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt", and his awards include the IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Track & Field Athlete of the Year, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year (three times) and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year (four times). Bolt retired after the 2017 World Championships, when he finished third in his last solo 100 m race, opted out of the 200 m, and pulled up in the 4×100 m relay final.
Stating that it was his "dream" to play professional association football, in August 2018 Bolt began training with Australian A-League club the Central Coast Mariners as a left-winger. On 12 October 2018, Bolt scored twice for the team in a friendly match. He left the club the following month, and in January 2019 announced that he would not be pursuing a career in football. In 2018, Bolt co-founded and launched Bolt Mobility in the U.S., an e-scooter which can reach speeds of up to 15 mph. In May 2019, the company expanded its services to Europe, introducing the product first in Paris.

Josh Hamilton

Joshua Holt Hamilton (born May 21, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds (2007), Texas Rangers (2008-2012, 2015), and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (2013–2014). Hamilton is a five-time MLB All-Star and won the American League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) in 2010. 
Josh Hamilton was the first overall pick in the 1999 MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He was considered a blue chip prospect until injuries and a drug addiction derailed his career beginning in 2001. Prior to the 2007 season, Hamilton was selected by the Chicago Cubs (picking for the Reds) in the Rule 5 draft. During the off-season he was traded to the Rangers.
During the 2008 season, Hamilton was named to the AL All-Star team. He also participated in the Home Run Derby, where he hit a record 28 home runs in the opening round and finished with 35 home runs, which was second-most all-time in derby history. He made the All-Star team the next four seasons as well. In 2012, Hamilton received more votes than any other player on the All-Star Game ballot, besting by approximately 3.5 million votes the vote count set in 2011 by José Bautista. Hamilton won the AL batting title in 2010. On October 22, 2010, Hamilton was selected as MVP of the 2010 ALCS. On November 23, 2010, Hamilton was named the 2010 AL MVP, earning 22 of 28 first-place votes. On May 8, 2012, Hamilton became the 16th player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game. All four home runs were two-run home runs, and he set an AL record for total bases in a game with 18.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini (Spanish pronunciation: [ljoˈnel anˈdɾez ˈmesi] (listen); born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Spanish club Barcelona and the Argentina national team. Often considered the best player in the world and widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Messi has a record-tying five Ballon d'Or awards, four of which he won consecutively, and a record six European Golden Shoes. He has spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he has won a club-record 34 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, four UEFA Champions League titles and six Copas del Rey. A prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most goals in La Liga (419), a La Liga and European league season (50), most hat-tricks in the UEFA Champions League (8), and most assists in La Liga (169) and the Copa América (12). He has scored 698 senior career goals for club and country.
Born and raised in central Argentina, Messi was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency as a child. At age 13, he relocated to Spain to join Barcelona, who agreed to pay for his medical treatment. After a fast progression through Barcelona's youth academy, Messi made his competitive debut aged 17 in October 2004. Despite being injury-prone during his early career, he established himself as an integral player for the club within the next three years, finishing 2007 as a finalist for both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award, a feat he repeated the following year. His first uninterrupted season was 2008–09, during which he helped Barcelona achieve the first treble in Spanish football. At 22 years old, Messi won the 2009 Ballon d'Or and the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year award by record voting margins. Three successful seasons followed, with Messi winning three consecutive FIFA Ballons d'Or, including an unprecedented fourth. During the 2011–12 season, he set the La Liga and European records for most goals scored in a single season, while establishing himself as Barcelona's all-time top scorer in official competitions in March 2012. The following two seasons, Messi finished twice second for the Ballon d'Or behind Cristiano Ronaldo, his perceived career rival. Messi regained his best form during the 2014–15 campaign, breaking the all-time goalscoring records in both La Liga and the Champions League in November 2014, and leading Barcelona to a historic second treble.
An Argentine international, Messi is his country's all-time leading goalscorer. At youth level, he won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, finishing the tournament with both the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe, and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His style of play as a diminutive, left-footed dribbler drew comparisons with his compatriot Diego Maradona, who described Messi as his successor. After his senior debut in August 2005, Messi became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a FIFA World Cup during the 2006 edition, and reached the final of the 2007 Copa América, where he was named young player of the tournament. As the squad's captain from August 2011, he led Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2014 FIFA World Cup, for which he won the Golden Ball, and the 2015 and 2016 Copas América. After announcing his international retirement in 2016, he reversed his decision and led his country to qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and a third place finish at the 2019 Copa América.
According to France Football, Messi was the world's highest-paid footballer for five years out of six between 2009 and 2014, and was ranked the world's highest-paid athlete by Forbes in 2019. He was among Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011 and 2012. One of the most famous athletes in the world, Messi has been sponsored by sportswear company Adidas since 2006 and has established himself as their leading brand endorser.

Dwight Howard

Dwight David Howard (born December 8, 1985) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is an eight-time All-Star, eight-time All-NBA Team honoree, five-time All-Defensive Team member, and three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Howard, who plays center, spent his high school career at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. He chose to forgo college, entered the 2004 NBA draft, and was selected first overall by the Orlando Magic. Howard set numerous franchise and league records during his time with the Magic. In 2009, he led the team to the NBA Finals.
In 2012, after eight seasons with Orlando, Howard was traded to the Lakers. Following a one-year stint with the Lakers, he played for the Houston Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Washington Wizards.

CC Sabathia

Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr. (born July 21, 1980) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Cleveland Indians and Milwaukee Brewers. Sabathia bats and throws left-handed.
Sabathia made his major league debut with the Indians in 2001 and placed second in the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting behind 2001 AL MVP Ichiro Suzuki. Sabathia played the first seven-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Indians, with whom he won the 2007 Cy Young Award. He led the Indians to the 2007 AL Central Division title and their first postseason berth since his rookie year. Following a trade, Sabathia played the second half of the 2008 MLB season with the Milwaukee Brewers, helping them make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years.
In the 2008 offseason, Sabathia signed with the New York Yankees for seven years and $161 million; at the time, this was the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher. With the Yankees, Sabathia led all of Major League Baseball in wins in both 2009 and 2010 and won a World Series ring in 2009. He was also voted the 2009 American League Championship Series Most Valuable Player. After mid-career struggles attributed to lost fastball velocity, chronic knee injuries, and alcoholism, Sabathia again found success in the late 2010s after reinventing himself as a control pitcher. In February 2019, he announced that 2019 would be his final season as a professional baseball player.
During his career, Sabathia has been named an All-Star six times and has won the Warren Spahn Award three times. In August 2017, Sabathia became the all-time American League leader in strikeouts by a left-handed pitcher. As of June 2019, he leads all active Major League players in career wins, career innings pitched and career strikeouts. On April 30, 2019, he became the seventeenth pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 strikeouts and the third left-hander to do so (joining Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton).

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American professional boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He competed from 1996 to 2007, 2009 to 2010, 2011 to 2015, and made a one-fight comeback in 2017. During his career, he held multiple world titles in five weight classes and the lineal championship in four weight classes (twice at welterweight), and retired with an undefeated record. As an amateur, Mayweather won a bronze medal in the featherweight division at the 1996 Olympics, three U.S. Golden Gloves championships (at light flyweight, flyweight, and featherweight), and the U.S. national championship at featherweight.
Mayweather is a two-time winner of The Ring magazine's Fighter of the Year award (1998 and 2007), a three-time winner of the Boxing Writers Association of America Fighter of the Year award (2007, 2013, and 2015), and a six-time winner of the Best Fighter ESPY Award (2007–2010, 2012–2014). In 2016, Mayweather was ranked by ESPN as the greatest boxer, pound for pound, of the last 25 years. He remains BoxRec's number one fighter of all time, pound for pound, as well as the greatest welterweight of his era. Many sporting news and boxing websites, including The Ring, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, BoxRec, Fox Sports, and Yahoo! Sports, ranked Mayweather as the best pound for pound boxer in the world twice in a span of ten years.He is often referred to as the best defensive boxer in history, as well as being the most accurate puncher since the existence of CompuBox, having the highest plus–minus ratio in recorded boxing history. Mayweather has a record of 26 consecutive wins in world title fights (10 by KO), 23 wins (9 KOs) in lineal title fights, 24 wins (7 KOs) against former or current world titlists, 12 wins (3 KOs) against former or current lineal champions, and 2 wins (1 KO) against International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees.
Mayweather is one of the most lucrative pay-per-view attractions of all time, in any sport. He topped the Forbes and Sports Illustrated lists of the 50 highest-paid athletes of 2012 and 2013, and the Forbes list again in both 2014 and 2015, listing him as the highest paid athlete in the world. In 2006, he founded his own boxing promotional firm, Mayweather Promotions, after leaving Bob Arum's Top Rank. Mayweather has generated approximately 24 million PPV buys and $1.67 billion in revenue throughout his career, surpassing the likes of former top PPV attractions including Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao.

LeBron James

LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His accomplishments include three NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, three NBA Finals MVP Awards, and two Olympic gold medals. James has appeared in fifteen NBA All-Star Games and been named NBA All-Star MVP three times. He won the 2008 NBA scoring title, is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader, and is fourth in all-time career points scored. He has been voted onto the All-NBA First Team twelve times and the All-Defensive First Team five times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.James played basketball for St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where he was heavily touted by the national media as a future NBA superstar. A prep-to-pro, he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 as the first overall draft pick. Named the 2003–04 NBA Rookie of the Year, he soon established himself as one of the league's premier players; he won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2009 and 2010. After failing to win a championship with Cleveland, James left in 2010 to sign as a free agent with the Miami Heat. This move was announced in an ESPN special titled The Decision, and is one of the most controversial free agent decisions in American sports history.
James won his first two NBA championships while playing for the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013; in both of these years, he also earned league MVP and Finals MVP. After his fourth season with the Heat in 2014, James opted out of his contract to re-sign with the Cavaliers. In 2016, he led the Cavaliers to victory over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, delivering the franchise's first championship and ending Cleveland's 52-year professional sports title drought. His teams appeared in the NBA Finals in eight consecutive seasons (from 2011 to 2018). In 2018, James opted out of his contract with the Cavaliers to sign with the Lakers.
Off the court, James has accumulated additional wealth and fame from numerous endorsement contracts. His public life has been the subject of much scrutiny, and he has been ranked as one of America's most influential and popular athletes. He has been featured in books, documentaries, and television commercials. He has also hosted the ESPY Awards and Saturday Night Live, and appeared in the 2015 film Trainwreck.

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bean Bryant (August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. He played his entire 20-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers. He entered the NBA directly from high school and won five NBA championships. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team and was the NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2008. His four All-Star MVP Awards are tied with Bob Pettit for the most in NBA history. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals as a member of the U.S. national team. In 2018, Bryant won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his film Dear Basketball. Bryant, along with his daughter Gianna and three others, died on January 26, 2020, in a helicopter crash outside of Calabasas, California, at the age of 41.

Tony Stewart

Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current NASCAR team owner. He is a three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion as a driver, winning titles in 2002, 2005 and 2011. As a team owner, he has won Monster Energy Cup titles in 2011 with himself and in 2014 with Kevin Harvick as drivers. Throughout his racing career, Stewart has won racing titles in Indy, midget, sprint, and USAC Silver Crown cars. He is the only driver in history to win a championship in both IndyCar and NASCAR.
He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (now known as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) during the 2016 season, driving the No. 14 Chevrolet SS for his own team, Stewart-Haas Racing, under crew chief Mike Bugarewicz. From 1999 to 2008, he drove the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing car, under crew chief Greg Zipadelli with The Home Depot as the primary sponsor. While driving for car owner Joe Gibbs, Stewart won two Cup Series championships in 2002 and 2005. In 2011, Stewart became the first owner-driver since Alan Kulwicki to win the Cup Series championship, which ended Jimmie Johnson's streak of consecutive championships at five. Stewart is the only driver to win the Cup Series championship under the old points system and the chase playoff format, and is the only driver to win the title under three different sponsorships (Winston in 2002, Nextel in 2005, and Sprint in 2011). He is also the first driver in the Cup Series to win the championship by virtue of a tie breaker (number of wins during the season is the first level tie breaker; Stewart had five while eventual runner-up Carl Edwards had one.) On May 22nd, 2019, Stewart was inducted into the NASCAR Hall Of Fame

Albert Pujols

José Alberto Pujols Alcántara (born January 16, 1980) is a Dominican-American professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played 11 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom he was a three-time National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) (2005, 2008, 2009) and nine-time All-Star (2001, 2003–2010). He then was a one-time All-Star additionally with the Angels in 2015. A right-handed batter and thrower, Pujols stands 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighs 235 pounds (107 kg).
Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the United States in 1996. After one season of college baseball, he was selected by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB draft. As a rookie for the Cardinals in 2001, he was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year. Pujols played for the Cardinals, contributing to two World Series championships in 2006 and 2011. After the 2011 season, Pujols became a free agent and signed a 10-year contract with the Angels.
Pujols was, at the height of his career, a highly regarded hitter who showed a "combination of contact hitting ability, patience and raw power." He is a six-time Silver Slugger who has twice led the NL in home runs, and he has also led the NL once each in batting average, doubles and RBI. He is significantly above-average in career regular season batting average (.300), walk rate (10.9 percent) and Isolated Power (.251). He holds the MLB all-time record for most times grounded into a double play (376).  With 14 seasons of 100 or more RBI produced, he is tied with Alex Rodriguez for the most in MLB history.  Pujols got his 3,000th career hit in 2018, becoming the 32nd player in MLB history to do so.  Pujols also became the fourth member of the 3,000-hit club to also hit 600 home runs, joining Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Rodriguez in this exclusive club. Pujols is considered a strong future candidate for the Hall of Fame.

Kevin Durant

Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one season of college basketball for the University of Texas, and was selected as the second overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA draft. He played nine seasons with the franchise, which became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008, before signing with the Golden State  Warriors in 2016, winning back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018.
Durant was a heavily recruited high school prospect who was widely regarded as the second-best player in his class. In college, he won numerous year-end awards and became the first freshman to be named Naismith College Player of the Year. As a professional, he has won two NBA championships, an NBA Most Valuable Player Award, two Finals MVP Awards, two NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Awards, four NBA scoring titles, the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and two Olympic gold medals. Durant has also been selected to nine All-NBA teams and ten NBA All-Star teams.
Off the court, Durant is one of the highest-earning basketball players in the world, due in part to endorsement deals with companies such as Foot Locker and Nike. He has developed a reputation for philanthropy and regularly leads the league in All-Star votes and jersey sales. In recent years, he has contributed to The Players' Tribune as both a photographer and writer. In 2012, he ventured into acting, appearing in the film Thunderstruck.

Cliff Lee

Clifton Phifer Lee (born August 30, 1978) is an  American former professional baseball starting pitcher. Lee played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies, Seattle Mariners, and Texas Rangers. He stood 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm) and weighed 205 pounds (93 kg), while playing. During his school days, Lee played baseball at Benton High School and attended Meridian Community College and the University of Arkansas before being drafted by the Montreal Expos in the fourth round of the 2000 draft.
After playing with the Expos’ minor-league affiliate Harrisburg Senators, Lee was traded in 2002 to the Cleveland Indians and was first called up to the big leagues later that season. He was traded to the Phillies in 2009, then traded to the Mariners and Rangers, eventually returning to the Phillies as a free agent in 2011. A four-time All-Star, Lee won the American League (AL) Cy Young Award in 2008 as a member of the Indians, after leading the AL in wins and lowest earned run average (ERA).
Lee won his first seven postseason starts. As a Phillie, he went 4-0 in the 2009 postseason, including a complete game in the 2009 World Series against the New York Yankees. The following season, Lee led the Rangers to a shutout win, defeating the Yankees 8-0 in the 2010 ALCS, en route to reaching the 2010 World Series.Lee threw and batted left-handed and could count on three different   fastballs, the four-seam, two-seam, and cutter, in his pitching arsenal. Other pitches at his command included the slider, curveball, and change-up.

Georges St-Pierre

Georges St-Pierre (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɔʁʒ sɛ̃ pjɛʁ]; born May 19, 1981) is a retired Canadian professional mixed martial artist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. He is a two-division champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) having won titles in the welterweight and middleweight divisions.
St-Pierre is a three-time former UFC Welterweight Champion, having won the title twice and the interim title once between November 2006 and April 2008. St-Pierre was ranked as the #1 welterweight in the world for several years by Sherdog and numerous other publications. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 he was named the Canadian Athlete of the Year by Rogers Sportsnet. Fight Matrix lists him as the top MMA Welterweight of all time and most accomplished fighter in MMA history.He retired as the reigning Welterweight Champion on December 13, 2013, having held the record for most wins in title bouts and the second longest combined title streak in UFC history (2,204 days) while defending his title nine consecutive times. He returned to the Octagon in November 2017 at UFC 217, when he defeated Michael Bisping by submission to win the Middleweight title, thus becoming the fourth fighter in the history of the UFC to be a multi-division champion.

Serena Williams

Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and former world No. 1. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. On her sixth occasion, she held the ranking for 186 consecutive weeks, tying the record set by Steffi Graf. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.
Williams holds the most Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles combined among active players. Her 39 major titles puts her joint-third on the all-time list and second in the Open Era: 23 in singles, 14 in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. She is the most recent female player to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15) and the third player to achieve this twice, after Rod Laver and Graf. She is also the most recent player to have won a Grand Slam title on each surface (hard, clay and grass) in one calendar year (2015). She is also, together with her sister Venus, the most recent player to have held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously (2009–10).
Her total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles marks the record for the most Grand Slam tournament wins in the Open Era and is second on the all-time list behind Margaret Court (24). She has won an all-time record of 13 Grand Slam singles titles on hard court. Williams holds the Open Era record for most titles won at the Australian Open (7) and shares the Open Era record for most titles won at the US Open with Chris Evert (6). She also holds the all-time record for the most women's singles matches won at majors with 343 matches.
Williams has won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with her sister Venus, and the pair are unbeaten in Grand Slam doubles finals. As a team, she and Venus have the third most women's doubles Grand Slam titles, behind the 18 titles of Natasha Zvereva (14 with Gigi Fernández) and the record 20 titles won by Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver. Williams is also a five-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships in the singles division. She has also won four Olympic gold medals, one in women's singles and three in women's doubles—an all-time record shared with her sister, Venus. The arrival of the Williams sisters has been credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. She is ranked at No. 8 in the world by the WTA as of August 12, 2019.Earning almost $29 million in prize money and endorsements, Williams was the highest paid female athlete in 2016. She repeated this feat in 2017 when she was the only woman on Forbes' list of the 100 highest paid athletes with $27 million in prize money and endorsements. She has won the 'Laureus Sportswoman of the Year' award four times (2003, 2010, 2016, 2018), and in December 2015, she was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. In 2019, she was ranked 63rd in Forbes' World's Highest-Paid Athletes list.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (Catalan: [rəf(ə)ˈɛl nəˈðal pəˈɾeɾə], Spanish: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player, currently ranked world No. 2 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).Nadal has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history for a male player, as well as a record 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP Tour 500 titles, and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. In addition, Nadal has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 196 weeks. In majors, Nadal has won a record twelve French Open titles, three US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, and one Australian Open title. Nadal has won 83 career titles overall, including a record 59 clay court titles. With 81 consecutive match wins on clay, Nadal holds the record for the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Nadal was a member of the winning Spain Davis Cup team in 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2011. In 2010, he became the seventh male player in history and youngest of five in the Open Era, at age 24, to achieve the Career Grand Slam. He is the second male player, after Andre Agassi, to complete the singles Career Golden Slam. In 2011, Nadal was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.

Dustin Pedroia

Dustin Luis Pedroia (born August 17, 1983) is an American baseball second baseman for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He is a four-time All-Star and an American League (AL) Most Valuable Player award winner, who has also received four Gold Glove Awards and a single Silver Slugger award.
Pedroia was drafted by the Red Sox in 2004, and made his major league debut in 2006. He became a full-time player in 2007, winning the AL Rookie of the Year award. He was a member of the Red Sox World Series championship teams in 2007 and 2013. He was not on the postseason roster for the Red Sox 2018 championship. Since the retirement of David Ortiz at the end of the 2016 season, Pedroia is the only player from the 2007 World Series team still with the club, and the longest tenured player on the Red Sox' roster. Pedroia remains under contract with the Red Sox through the 2021 season.
Pedroia is an above-average contact hitter with a very low strikeout rate and "a surprising amount of power", whose defense at second base has been rated significantly above-average. Pedroia is the first Red Sox infielder to win four gold gloves.

Alexander Ovechkin

Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin (Russian: Александр Михайлович Овечкин, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐˈvʲetɕkʲɪn]; born September 17, 1985), often referred to as "Ovi" or "the Great Eight", is a Russian professional ice hockey winger and captain of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). Prior to entering the league, Ovechkin played for Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Superleague for four seasons, from 2001 until 2005, and returned to play for them briefly during the 2012–13 NHL lockout. A highly touted prospect, Ovechkin was selected by the Capitals first overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. With the 2004–05 NHL lockout cancelling the season, Ovechkin remained in Russia until 2005, joining the Capitals for the 2005–06 season. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year, scoring 52 goals and 54 assists to lead all rookies with 106 points and finishing third overall in league scoring.
Ovechkin has led the NHL in goal scoring (for which the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy is awarded) an NHL record eight times. His first such title came in the 2007–08 season, when his 65 goals and 112 points also earned him the Art Ross Trophy for most points scored, the Hart Memorial Trophy for most valuable player, and the Lester B. Pearson Award for best player as voted on by the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA). Ovechkin would again win the Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy, and Pearson Award in 2009,  and won the Ted Lindsay Award (the renamed Pearson Award) for a third consecutive year in 2010; this also marked the fifth straight year that he was named to the First All-Star Team.
After some years of decreased scoring, Ovechkin reclaimed the goal scoring title in 2013, earning the Richard Trophy and his third Hart Trophy. He would repeat as the Richard Trophy winner in 2014, 2015, and 2016, scoring at least 50 goals each season and becoming only the third player to score 50 goals in seven different seasons. Ovechkin reached 600 career NHL goals in 2018 and is considered one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history. In 2017, Ovechkin was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players of all-time. After ten playoff runs with the Washington Capitals, Ovechkin won his first Stanley Cup in 2018, as well as the Conn Smythe Trophy for most valuable player in the 2018 playoffs.
Internationally, Ovechkin has represented Russia in multiple tournaments. His first IIHF tournament was the 2002 World U18 Championship. The following year he made his debut at the World Junior Championship, helping Russia win the gold medal. He played two more years at the World Juniors, as well as once more at the World U18 Championships. Ovechkin's first senior tournament was the 2004 World Championship, and he also played in the World Cup that year. Ovechkin has also played for Russia at the Winter Olympics in 2006, 2010, and 2014. Overall, Ovechkin has represented Russia at eleven World Championships and three Olympics in his career, winning the World Championship three times.

Derek Jeter

Derek Sanderson Jeter ( JEE-tər; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. He has been the chief executive officer (CEO) and part owner of the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB) since September 2017.
As a shortstop, Jeter spent his entire 20-year MLB playing career with the New York Yankees. A five-time World Series champion, Jeter is regarded as one of the primary contributors to the Yankees' success of the late 1990s and early 2000s for his hitting, baserunning, fielding, and leadership. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,465), doubles (544), games played (2,747), stolen bases (358), times on base (4,716), plate appearances (12,602) and at bats (11,195). His accolades include 14 All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. Jeter was the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits and finished his career ranked sixth in MLB history in career hits and first among shortstops. In 2017, the Yankees retired his uniform number 2.
The Yankees drafted Jeter out of high school in 1992, and he debuted in the major leagues at age 21 in 1995. The following year, he became the Yankees' starting shortstop, won the Rookie of the Year Award, and helped push the team to win the 1996 World Series. Jeter continued to play during the team's championship seasons of 1998–2000; he finished third in voting for the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1998, recorded multiple career-high numbers in 1999, and won both the All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP Awards in 2000. He consistently placed among the AL leaders in hits and runs scored for most of his career, and served as the Yankees' team captain from 2003 until his retirement in 2014. Throughout his career, Jeter contributed reliably to the Yankees' franchise successes. He holds many postseason records, and has a .321 batting average in the World Series. Jeter has earned the nicknames "Captain Clutch" and "Mr. November" due to his outstanding play in the postseason.
Jeter was one of the most heavily marketed athletes of his generation and is involved in numerous product endorsements. As a celebrity, his personal life and relationships with other celebrities has drawn the attention of the media.


 
 
 #1 Jon Jones, #2 Manny Pacqui&aacute;o, #3 Derrick Rose, #4 Dirk Nowitzki, #5 Novak Djokovic
 


<a href="/list/best-black-movies-2020/grayson-titan" target="_blank">UPDATE: Check out the top Black movies of 2020!</a>

With numerous&nbsp;Black comedies, horror movies, and dramas released this year, it&#39;s time to rank the best Black movies of 2019. While such films are certainly nothing new, quite a few hit theaters in 2019 with a serious bang. Whether they are thriller films&nbsp;or eye-opening documentaries, the best Black movies this year have not disappointed. Of all the 2019 Black films, however, which ones did you think were best?

Lupita Nyong&#39;o and <a href="/list/winston-duke-movies-and-films-and-filmography/ranker-film" target="_blank">Winston Duke</a> play a mother and father trying to take their&nbsp;family on vacation before being attacked by doppelgangers in the highly acclaimed Us. Netflix has already kicked off the year with The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Juanita,&nbsp;and High Flying Bird.&nbsp;

The list of 2019 Black movies spans across all genres from comedy, action, mystery and historical fiction and includes something for everybody.&nbsp;What were your favorite African-American&nbsp;movies from 2019? Check out the complete list&nbsp;and vote up the ones you thought were best and enjoy the latest Black movies of this year. When you&#39;re done, check out our list of the <a href="/list/best-black-romance-movies/ranker-film" target="_blank">best Black love movies</a>&nbsp;and <a href="/list/best-black-horror-movies/ranker-film" target="_blank">Black scary movies</a>.