The most influential athletes of 2019

The world’s highest-paid and top pound-for-pound boxer had another impressive year, as he continues to expand his resume. Canelo fought twice this year, first defeating Daniel Jacobs in May via a unanimous decision to unify the middleweight championships. Then on Nov. 2, he made an incredible two-weight class jump to light heavyweight to face Sergey Kovalev. Alvarez put on an impressive showing, knocking out Kovalev in the 11th round to obtain the WBO lightweight championship.

The "Greak Freak" lived up to his moniker and more in 2019, continuing to develop into a one-of-kind athlete in NBA history. He captured league MVP honors, averaging 27.7 points and 12.5 rebounds in just 32 minutes per game, helping the Milwaukee Bucks to a league-best 60-22 record. In the process, the 24-year-old became a bona fide league-wide superstar and a favorite to take the NBA into its next era.

At just 22 years of age, Biles' 2019 served as an exclamation point performance in an already brilliant career. Biles dominated at both the U.S. National Gymnastics Championships and the World Championships, bringing her career medal count to 25, an all-time record. With her accomplishments this year, she also became the most decorated gymnast of all time —regardless of gender — with 19 World gold medals. Finally, her five World all-around titles set a record as well.

If there was an award for being unflinchingly and insistently influential, Davis would have been the consensus pick for the 2018-19 NBA season. The then-New Orleans Pelicans star and his agent, Rich Paul, set their sites on completing a deal that would land Davis in Los Angeles with LeBron James and the Lakers, going as far as Davis being healthy but inactive for over 20 games in the final two months of the season. Ultimately, Davis got his wish and was traded to L.A. in exchange for nearly half of the Lakers roster and a host of draft picks in June.

Durant averaged 32.3 points per game over 11 full games before an Achilles injury cost him all but 11 minutes of the final two rounds of the playoffs. In the process, the Warriors were pushed to the limit by the Trail Blazers before finally being dethroned by the Raptors in the NBA Finals. However, Durant did briefly make a potentially heroic return in Game 5, but his injured Achilles finally gave out. Despite the awful outcome of the season, Durant still was free agency's main attraction, as his move to the Brooklyn Nets instantly shifted the league spotlight toward the franchise upon his arrival with fellow superstar Kyrie Irving.

In recent years, the value of the bell cow running back has been thrown into question, as more and more teams deploy committee approaches. In the process, running back salaries dropped deeply behind those of quarterbacks and elite linemen and wide receivers, with Todd Gurley’s four-year, $57.5 million pact topping the position but still being well outside the league’s top 25. Following his preseason holdout, Zeke broke new ground in compensation at the position, inking a six-year, $90 million pact. All things considered, Zeke bet on himself and won, big.

Barr was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 14, causing his leg to be amputated to prevent the cancer from spreading throughout the rest of his body. However, his drive to compete carried on, with Barr becoming a Division 1 swimmer, competing in the Paralympic Games twice and reaching the Olympics in 2016. His crowning achievement came in 2018, when he won the world title at the International Triathlon Union Paratriathon World Championships. In honor of this, he received an ESPY for Best Male Athlete with a Disability in 2019.

Jackson has gone from being deemed as an intriguing but limited gimmick to a bona fide sensation in his sophomore season. The Baltimore Ravens redesigned their offense to accommodate the thrilling quarterback’s skill set, and he has rewarded that faith by transforming into one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. Jackson became the first player in history to throw for 200 yards while also running for 150 in a single game. He also posted two games of perfect passer ratings, continuing to push critics who challenged his ability as a professional quarterback ahead of the 2018 NFL Draft.

There is no more influential athlete in the world than James, who continues to rewrite the rules of how an athlete can go about the business of leveraging his position. His presence revitalized the basketball atmosphere in Los Angeles, with the newly acquired Anthony Davis giving the Lakers their best duo since the days of Kobe and Shaq. Off the court, James' empire continues to grow, as he began shooting a sequel to "Space Jam," continued to grow his media imprint through his Uninterrupted brand and deepened his educational outreach via his "iPromise" school in his native Akron, Ohio.

Messi remained the top player in Europe, helping Barcelona F.C. to a 10th La Liga title during his tenure with the club. Individually, Messi netted 51 goals in 50 appearances on the year, capturing a sixth Golden Boot award in the process. He also remained one of the most valuable commodities in all of sports, earning an estimated $127 million in salary and endorsements, making the Argentine star the highest-paid athlete in the world.

The 35-year-old Kenyan continued to affirm himself as one of the greatest distance runners of all time with his 2019 showing. Kipchoge has not lost since 2013 and in 2019 set the second-fastest pace of all time, when he won the London Marathon with a time of 2:02:37. At the Ineos 1:59 Challenge, Kipchoge broke the two-hour mark with a time of 1:59:40, becoming the first runner in history to accomplish a sub two-hour marathon. However, the time was later deemed unofficial due to the run not being completed under official IAAF rules.

Koepka defended his title at the PGA Championship, returning to the top of the world rankings in the process and finishing the year ranked No. 1 in the world. Koepka is the premier performer in majors, with four in his career and finishing in the top five of all majors in 2019. In fact, if Koepka only participated in majors, based on his performance, he would still be ranked within the world top 10.

It could easily be argued that Hamilton is currently the world’s most dominant athlete. The Formula One driver captured his third consecutive World Drivers’ Championship, only one behind Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven. On the heels of his record-setting 11 win, 408 point season in 2018, he inked the richest contract in motorsports history with Mercedes-Benz, paying him some $50 million a year.

Lawrence produced one of the best freshman quarterback seasons in NCAA history, helping Clemson to an undefeated, national championship season. After winning ACC Freshman of the Year, Lawrence’s crowning performance came against Alabama in the national championship game, where he led a dominant 44-16 upset, throwing for 347 yards and three touchdowns. In the process, Lawrence became the first freshman quarterback to win a national championship since 1986 and became one of the most highly anticipated NFL prospects in years.

Leonard returned to the court following a non-acrimonious split with the San Antonio Spurs and resumed his elite form, carrying the Raptors to new heights in the process. In the playoffs, he took his career to new heights, hitting a series-clinching three over the 76ers and then helped to defeat the league’s top seed Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals. In the Finals, Leonard remained an unavoidable force, capturing his second Finals MVP Award and bringing the first championship to Toronto since the 1993 Blue Jays.

After reinventing her character in mid-2018, Lynch became one of the biggest breakout stars in WWE history. Lynch joined Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair as the first women to ever headline WrestleMania in April. Lynch was victorious in the match, capturing the Raw and SmackDown brand world titles in the process. Since that historic victory, the Irish superstar has been a legitimate crossover star and has become one of the most prominent female athletes in the U.S.

Morgan was one of the driving forces for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the 2019 World Cup, opening the tournament with a jaw-dropping five-goal, three-assist effort against Thailand. Overall, Morgan tied for the team lead with nine goals, helping the USWNT defend its FIFA World Cup title. In the process, Morgan became a cultural sensation, for "bringing the tea" following a game-winning goal vs. England.

Murray proved that there’s no such thing as having too many options, as he faced a fork in the road between two careers. Already a first-round pick of the Oakland Athletics in Major League Baseball, Murray's Heisman Trophy-winning season with the Oklahoma Sooners caught the eye of the NFL as well. Ultimately, he chose to stick with football and it was a wise choice, as the Arizona Cardinals made him the top pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Murray became the only athlete ever taken in the top 10 of both the MLB and NFL Drafts.

Rapinoe took the sports world by storm over the summer, equal parts for her play for the U.S. during the FIFA World Cup but also for her unapologetic principles while doing so. On the pitch, Rapinoe scored six goals — including the decisive one in the championship game — en route to being awarded the Golden Boot and Golden Ball Awards. Rapinoe was also an outspoken advocate for pay equality for the women in soccer to the EEOC and continued support of civil rights initiatives, especially those relevant to the LGBT community.

Rhodes turned the professional wrestling world on its head, as his All Elite Wrestling promotion mounted the first significant challenge to the WWE in over a decade. Alongside business partners Kenny Omega, Brandi Rhodes and Matt and Nick Jackson, he created an underground movement that made it mainstream, with support of Tony Khan, son of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Kahn. After a string of massively successful special event showcases, AEW landed a contract with TNT to broadcast its shows weekly.

Although Bill Russell was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1975, it was never an honor that the Boston Celtics great fully accepted. Russell was the first African-American ever inducted to the Hall of Fame, a distinction he did not feel he deserved. As a result of this, he refused to ever officially receive his Hall of Fame ring. However, following the election of the first African-American draftee in league history, Chuck Cooper, in 2019, Russell finally agreed to receive his honor at age 85.

In May, Ruiz pulled off one of the biggest upsets in boxing history — as a last-minute substitution. After Jarrell Miller failed a third drug test, Ruiz put his name in as a replacement to face heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. With just a month to go until the fight, Ruiz was granted the bout and entered it as an 11-1 underdog. With nothing to lose, Ruiz rose to the occasion, knocking down Joshua four times before winning via TKO in the seventh round and becoming one of the most unlikely world champions in history.

Trout bookended his 2019 with two different types of history. In the spring, he was awarded a record-setting 12-year, $430 million contract extension with the Anaheim Angels. It is the largest contract in North American pro sports history, and he honored the renewed investment in his services with a third MVP season in his eight-year career. With the finish, Trout became the first player in MLB history to finish in the top five in MVP voting for eight consecutive years.

Although she has without a doubt had more successful years, Williams showed an extraordinary level of fortitude at the current stage of her career. At age 38 and just over year removed from the birth of her first child, Williams regained a top 10 ranking in the world. She was runner-up at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,\ while defeating world No. 1 Simona Halep in a fourth-round matchup at the Australian Open. While she did not contribute to her record 23 major titles, she did add a triumphant chapter to her career.

From awe-inspiring dunks, to National Player of the Year, to top NBA Draft pick, to the most famously broken sneaker in history, everything that surrounded Williamson was headline news. No player ever had the spotlight shined upon him quite like Zion, and he did not disappoint. He more than justified the hype during his year at Duke and began to flash the same promise with the New Orleans Pelicans before a knee injury delayed his official professional debut. But before the year is up, Zion will unleash his incomparable talent upon NBA competition.