LeBron James Tops Sports Illustrated's Top 50 Fittest Athletes

LeBron James must be over the moon now, after receiving news that he is the fittest athlete in sports.

Sports Illustrated judged athletes based on speed, strength, agility and endurance, and found that even in this area, up against athletes outside of basketball, James is still King, the Bleacher Report said.

He beat Cristiano Ronaldo (2) from soccer, Usain Bolt (3) from Track and Field, and Floyd Mayweather (4) from Boxing in a rating system based on a scale of 0-10 for each category.

According to a Sports Illustrated slideshow, fitness is an athlete's "very foundation," acknowledging, however, that some are better.

In the same site, it announced that it is using the 40-point system for the first time. James garnered a perfect score in all categories. Ronaldo lost by 1.5 points in strength. Meanwhile, Bolt perfected speed, got nines in strength and endurance, and 8.5 in agility.

Fifth is foootball's Dez Bryant who, despite a heavy sushi, hamburger and pizza diet, still is the fittest football athlete, according to Dallas News.He leads the pack of three football players in the first ten spots with 35 points.

Calvin Johnson got 34.5, immediately following Bryant in the Top 10, while Adrian Peterson got 33.5, eighth overall. 

UFC's Jon Jones got 7-10-8-8 for a total 33, to equalize with U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps' 9-7-8-9. They close out the Top 10. 

The slideshow showed there is no prototype for the fittest as they "come in all shapes and sizes" and everywhere. 

According to the Bleacher Report, James' diet adjustment has him positioned well in the rankings.

But Sporting News is alarmed at the changes, meanwhile. Saying he was never unfit during the NBA season, the weight loss regimen he follows slimmed him down drastically since the NBA Finals in June.

Citing an Instagram photo he posted on Monday, the report said, the basketball superstar's cheekbones were more visible, and his neck and legs thinner. The shift was confirmed in a tweet by ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

No reason was made public, the Sporting News report said, but it was suspecting that the weight loss had to do with his age. He turns 30 in December.

James played 33,276 regular season minutes, the report added, making James the 16th most active NBA player. Because of all his duties, it was normal for him to shed some of his playing weight, reportedly at 250 pounds.

Yahoo Sports explained that James headed to Toronto on Monday to check out a performance by Drake, noting that the lighting could have caused an illusion that he dropped a lot of weight.

However, the report also noted that a weight loss program would coincide a decision to play small forward for the Cleveland Cavaliers instead of power forward, which he played well for Miami Heat. 

It could be about offseason fitness, the report said, recalling his taking part in a weight loss challenge last season with Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen.