Floyd Mayweather, Imagine Dragons rock end-of-decade lists

Las Vegas Review-Journal

5 years ago

Floyd Mayweather attends the fight between Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz for the WBC heavyweigh ... — Floyd Mayweather attends the fight between Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz for the WBC heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. Wilder won by way of knockout in the seventh round. (Erik Verduzco/ Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Erik_Verduzco

Imagine Dragons, from left: Daniel Platzman, Ben McKee, Wayne Sermon and Dan Reynolds are shown at the sixth annual TRF Gala at Wynn Las Vegas on Friday, Sept. 6, 2019. (John Katsilometes/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @JohnnyKats

Floyd Mayweather, left, lands a left hook on the jaw of Conor McGregor on Saturday, Aug 26, 2017, at T-Mobile Arena, in Las Vegas. Mayweather defeated McGregor by technical knockout in the 10th round to extend his record to 50-0. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @benjaminhphoto

Floyd Mayweather and Imagine Dragons know how to pack a punch.

The Las Vegas-centric superstars of sports and contemporary music dominated a pair of prominent decadelong achievement lists.

Mayweather, for whom the nickname “Money” is reserved, is the highest-paid athlete of the 2010s according to Forbes magazine. The unbeaten (temporarily, at least) boxing champ amassed $915 million in earnings from 2010 through 2019.

Imagine Dragons captured the top three positions in Billboard magazine’s list of top rock songs of the decade. “Believer” was No. 1, followed by “Thunder” and “Radioactive.” And, Las Vegas-born Panic! At The Disco, with “High Hopes,” is No. 4 on the top-10 list.

With characteristic aplomb, Mayweather trumpeted his feat on Instagram on Christmas Day. “First I want to congratulate every other athlete on this list and second I am honored to have accomplished such record breaking numbers.”

Mayweather also is sports’ first $1 billion athlete over his pro career, which stared after the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Cristiano Ronaldo was second with $800 million over the decade, followed by fellow soccer superstar Lionel Messi ($750 million), NBA star LeBron James ($680 million), tennis ace Roger Federer ($640 million), golf legend Tiger Woods ($615 million), fellow golf star Phil Mickelson ($480 million), boxing champ Manny Pacquiao ($435 million), NBA star Kevin Durant ($425 million) and British racing champ Lewis Hamilton ($400 million).

Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons also commented on his Twitter feed about the band’s impressive chart performance.

“Got on Twitter to find all the slander and all the love. Thank you for the love, and yea I’d probably be mad if it wasn’t my band but it is my band hahahahahahbaba.”

got on twitter to find all the slander and all the love. thank you for the love and yea I’d probably be mad if it wasn’t my band but it is my band hahahahahahbaba https://t.co/le16Mep6mR

— Dan Reynolds (@DanReynolds) December 31, 2019

In a follow post, the band’s front man added “and in all serious. thank you so much. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to have spent the last decade writing this music and sharing it w you. It all comes from a real place and it always will. The world can debate what genre it belongs in. That’s not my concern.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.