Entertainment: The Most Successful and Handsome Black Men of 2017

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Vin Diesel. Photo–Gage Skidmore

Success has many faces, but not all of them are handsome. For example, the richest Black man in the world is probably not a name that many people are familiar with – Aliko Dangote. He’s the chairman of Dangote Cement, and he owns approximately 90% of the company. According to Forbes Magazine he’s worth a staggering $12.1 billion, but judging from his profile picture, this Nigerian business mogul is dapper, but not quite Denzel Washington. Looks aside, his generosity is noted throughout the world, particularly on the African continent where he has pledged to donate as much as $100 million over a 5-year period to combat malnutrition in his home country of Nigeria.

Who’s Hot and Who’s Not on the Celebrity Front? Business acumen aside, most of us can relate to Hollywood A-listers with relative ease. When it comes to picking out the most successful, dapper, and charming Black men in Tinseltown, there’s more variety than you can shake a stick at. Some of the biggest superstars include guys like Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, and Vin Diesel.

The Rock a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson is of Puerto Rican descent, and he topped the list as the King of Forbes in 2016 when his movies amassed $6.6 billion over a 10-year period. Vin Diesel recognizes himself as a person of color, with a White mother with Irish, English, German and Scottish ancestry, and a Black father. Though he has never met his dad, or knows much about him, he acknowledges that he has his father’s natural good looks. Diesel is one of the most successful action stars in Hollywood, thanks to his string of box office successes with The Fast and the Furious.

According to Box Office Mojo his movies have amassed a staggering $5,131,900,000 worldwide at unadjusted ticket prices. Vin Diesel earned a whopping $54.5 million in 2017 alone. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Vin Diesel has a personal fortune of $200 million-plus.

When it comes to cool, calm, and sophisticated, nobody does it better than Denzel Washington. He’s one of the hottest Hollywood exports, and his movies are loved by people across the spectrum. He has a net worth of approximately $220 million, and his annual salary ranges between $60 million – $80 million. Here’s a talent who has the brawn, the brains and the good looks to take him places. He has a string of mega-money Hollywood box office hits to his credit, and he remains one of the most desirable actors around the world. At 62 years of age, Denzel Washington is just as appealing today as he was as a youngster.

He’s one cool cat, and fans respect him, admire him, and want to be him. He has acted in over 54 movies, directed two of them, and produced 5 of them. His biggest salary came from American Gangster ($40 million), and he did a stellar job with The Equalizer in 2014. The much-anticipated sequel The Equalizer 2, will be released in 2018. The total unadjusted worldwide revenues from his films amount to $3,709,000,000, making him one of the all-time greats in Hollywood. In 2017, he starred in Roman J. Israel ESQ with a production budget of $22 million, and a domestic total of $11,729,747. Since 2003, Forbes Magazine has revealed that he has banked $290 million-plus pre-tax. When we extrapolate further back, when he earned $20 million-plus per film, that figure gets bumped up a lot.

Floyd Mayweather – The Money: Earlier in 2017, Floyd Mayweather recorded one of the most inspirational and valiant boxing victories in history. He turned things around on Conor McGregor and recorded a 10th round TKO victory over the UFC champ. The fight lasted 28 minutes, and McGregor picked up almost $1 million per minute for a nifty sum of $30 million for the fight. But nobody in the sporting world can do what Floyd Mayweather can. He hypes up every fight to the maximum, generating as much publicity, notoriety and scandal as possible.

According to Forbes Magazine, Mayweather earned approximately $700 million before his fight with McGregor. After that fight, Floyd Mayweather earned an additional $300 million for a 10 round technical knockout of McGregor. This puts Mayweather front and centre as the highest paid Black fighter in history. His career earnings are well over $1 billion, and only two other people have higher earnings than him – Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan. Both of those athletes earned a total of $1.5 billion during their careers. For Mayweather, it doesn’t get much sweeter – he retired with a 50–0 record. An undefeated billionaire. And judging from the way he looks, he doesn’t get hit too much and keeps his boyish charm and is naturally handsome. PS, Mayweather prefers to keep all of his money in one bank account – he likes it all together.

Phil Ivey – The Greatest Card Playing Legend in History: Phil Ivey is a guy who needs no introduction to the online poker world. He is one of the most highly decorated, and talented, poker stars. According to the Hendon Mob, Phil Ivey has total career earnings in the live format of poker of $23,856,033, and his best live cash is $3,582,753. On the US all-time money list, Ivey ranks at #4, and he’s at #1 on the New Jersey USA all-time money list. In 2016, he earned a whopping total of $656,500 playing poker, but this was preceded by multimillion dollar paydays in 2014 and 2015.

Phil Ivey hails from Las Vegas Nevada, and he has a staggering 26 career titles, and 136 career cashes. In the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Ivey has won an incredible $6,165,930, with 10 bracelets and 31 final tables. In the World Poker Tour, he has collected a handsome $4,026,321 with 1 championship title, and 10 final tables. His performance at the EPT (European Poker Tour) is equally impressive.

He has won $514,003, with 3 cashes and one final table. Phil Ivey is no stranger to controversy, but he always bounces back in the best way, and judging by that big smile on his face, he’s one man who knows what he wants, and goes out and gets it!

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