FOR this yearend, two Filipino athletes have emerged to boxing greatness, while another just couldn’t consider 2012 to be his year.

World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr. has won all his four matches this year including the sweetest victory of all—the third round knockout of Mexican Jorge Arce on December 15 to keep his title belt.

Unfortunately the global icon Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao received two setbacks this year. The first was when he lost his WBO welterweight title to American Timothy Bradley in June and then his stinging sixth round knockout to Mexican archrival Juan Manuel Marquez on December 8.

Pacquiao, the former world’s pound-for-pound king, kept very busy in his careers as a politician and an absentee lawmaker, television host and singer and a born again Christian non-Roman-Catholic apostle that ate most of his time that he should have devoted to being a professional boxer.

Pacquiao, 34, dropped to a 54-5-2 win-loss-draw card with 38 knockouts this year.

Most Fililpinos still think of PacMan as the so-far true world-boxing champion for all time.

Two to cheer on
Filipinos, though, found two boxers to cheer on.

Donaire’s career under Coach Robert Garcia continuously went up from February, when he clobbered Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. to claim the vacant WBO super bantamweight belt in February and then bashed Jeffrey Mathebula in July.

He then scored a ninth-round stoppage of former titleholder Japanese Toshiaki Nishioka in October. Donaire’s win-loss slate now is 31-1 slate with 20 Kos.

Filipino-Hawaiian Brian Viloria (32-3 card with 19 KOs) shared his successful domination in the flyweight class too, when he smothered Omar Niño Romero via ninth round knockout in May to retain his WBO flyweight belt.

Six months later, Viloria, 32, had unified the WBO and the World Boxing Association flyweight belts after knocking out Mexican Hernan “Tyson” Marquez in 10th round in November making him the world’s current flyweight king.

The Azkals
In other sports, the Philippine men’s football team also known as the “Azkals” made history when they clinched their first ever semifinal appearance in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup last April in Nepal.

But the Azkals, led by skipper Chieffy Caligdong, brothers Phil and James Younghusband, among others, failed to make it to the championship round of the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup after losing to Singapore in the two-leg semifinals.

The Philippine men’s football team received its highest Federation Internationale De Football Association (FIFA) ranking at 143rd last November.

Controversial Go Teng Kok, the Philippine Amateur Athletics Association president, announced on November 29 that he was no longer interested to pursue his case against the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).

Go, who wasdeclared as persona non grata by the POC General Assembly, challenged incumbent POC President Jose Cojuangco Jr. but was later disqualified by the election committee.

He later sought temporary restraining order in a regional trial court in Pasig City, but he surprisingly withdrew the case. He is also set to retire as athletics president after 23 years.

Go’s giving up his fight to unseat Cojuangco and the failure of others who had also challenged the long-time POC head, leave in great doubt any future reform in the way Philippine sports associations can help develop themselves and produce medal-winning Filipino athletes next year and beyond.

Empty-handed
The Philippine 11-man team for the London Olympics this year also came back empty-handed as athletes in whom great hopes were pinned—boxer Mark Anthony Barriga, cyclist Daniel Caluag and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz—were eventually eliminated. Their plight shows how potentially good athletes have their careers thwarted by lack of funds, facilities and attention from sports leaders.

This was the fourth consecutive Olympics that the Philippines did not land a podium finish.

Despite this, Cojuangco still won a fresh third term as POC president on November 30 along with his ticket members including first vice president Joey Romasanta of karatedo who defeated reelectionist Manny Lopez of boxing.

Former national athlete Ting Ledesma rose from being an athlete to a sports leader when he was elected president of the Table Tennis Association of the Philippines recognized by the POC and the International Table Tennis Federation.

Gilas 2
In the basketball scene, Smart Gilas Pilipinas 2 captured the 2012 Jones Cup tournament for the first time since Tim Cone’s Centennial squad won that event in 1998. Ginebra’s LA Tenorio led the Philippine team in beating the US team, 76-75.

Talk ‘N Text won the Philippine Cup this year, while B-Meg Derby Ace (Now SanMig Coffee) and Rain or Shine won the Commissioners Cup and Governor’s Cup title, respectively, in the Philippine Basketball Association Season 37.

In collegiate basketball, the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles led by 7-footer Greg Slaughter and Kiefer Ravena gained their fifth consecutive title in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines senior basketball.

The San Beda College Red Lions won their third straight title against the Letran Knights and marked an all-time best 17th title overall in the oldest collegiate basketball league—National Collegiate Athletic Association.