Question: Who gets paid the most in professional sports?

Disambiguated questions and answers:
context: Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American former professional basketball player and the principal owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA, winning six championships with the Chicago Bulls. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." He was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
question: Who gets paid the most in professional sports in modern times?
short_answers: Michael Jordan
MJ
Michael Jeffrey Jordan
wikipage: Michael Jordan
context: No context provided
question: Who gets paid the most in professional sports in all time?
short_answers: Gaius Appuleius Diocles
context: No context provided
question: Who gets paid the most in professional sports in 2017?
short_answers: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM
Cristiano Ronaldo
context: No context provided
question: Who gets paid the most in professional sports in 2016?
short_answers: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM
Cristiano Ronaldo
context: No context provided
question: Who gets paid the most in professional sports in 2015?
short_answers: Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Long-form answers:
knowledge: content: Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ,[9] is an American former professional basketball player and businessman.
wikipage: Michael Jordan
content: Gaius Appuleius Diocles (104 – after 146 AD) was a Roman charioteer who became one of the most celebrated athletes in ancient history. He is often cited as the highest-paid athlete of all time.
wikipage: Gaius Appuleius Diocles
content: Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (born Floyd Joy Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American professional boxing promoter and former professional boxer.
wikipage: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
content: In 2018, Mayweather was the most-paid athlete in the world, with earnings amounting to $275 million.
wikipage: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
content: Classics professor Peter Struck describes him as "the best-paid athlete of all time",[1] worth between approximately $60 million and $160 million in equivalent basic goods purchasing power.
wikipage: Gaius Appuleius Diocles Winnings
content: In 2014, Jordan became the first billionaire player in NBA history. With a net worth of $1.6 billion, he is the fifth-richest African American, behind Robert F. Smith, David Steward, Oprah Winfrey, and Kanye West.
wikipage: Michael Jordan
content: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro GOIH ComM (Portuguese pronunciation: [kɾiʃˈtjɐnu ʁɔˈnaɫdu]; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Juventus and captains the Portugal national team.
wikipage: Cristiano Ronaldo
content: He is the first footballer and the third sportsman to earn $1 billion in their career.
wikipage: Cristiano Ronaldo
long_answer: The highest-paid athlete in sports has changed somewhat throughout the years, depending on the sport in question. In modern times, the athlete that gets paid the most is American former professional basketball player and businessman Michael Jordan, who by 2014 became the first billionaire player in NBA history with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Gaius Appuleius Diocles was a Roman charioteer who became one of the most celebrated athletes in ancient history, and is often cited as the highest-paid athlete of all time, whos worth was between approximately $60 million and $160 million in equivalent basic goods purchasing power. In 2015, the highest-paid athlete in professional sports was American professional boxing promoter and former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who by 2018 had earnings amounting to $275 million. However, in 2016 and 2017, the highest-paid athlete in professional sports was Portuguese professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, who became the first footballer and the third sportsman to earn $1 billion in their career.