The Ring Magazine named Nonito Donaire Jr. Fighter of the Year, shortly after the Filipino champ received the ESPN Fighter of the Year plum.
The Ring columnist Doug Fischer explained that “The Filipino Flash” deserves the award for his conquest of rivals Wilfredo Vazquez, Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce.
“The 30-year-old veteran Do-naire fought four times in 2012. The former flyweight and bantamweight titleholder established himself as the best 122-pound fighter on the planet, as well as the Fighter of the Year in the eyes of the fans,” wrote Fischer on RingTV.com.
Donaire won via unanimous decision against Vazquez in February to snare the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight crown. He then defended it against Mathebula through unanimous decision in July then versus Nishioka via knockout in October.
And most recently, he KOed Arce in the third round of their December 15 encounter to retain his WBO super-bantamweight belt.
Donaire (31-1, 20 KOs) got 55.2 percent of the total Ring votes, defeating runner-up Juan Manuel Marquez, who got 27.3 percent. Marquez scored a sixth round KO victory against Donaire’s compatriot Manny Pacquiao in their fourth fight last month.
Fischer also commended Do-naire’s willingness to undergo drug testing and encourage other boxers to do the same.
“Speaking setting of much-needed trends in boxing, Donaire committed to Olympic-style drug testing, which means random testing of banned substances at any time of any day, year-round,” added Fischer.
Published : Friday January 18, 2013 | Category : Top Sports News | Hits:47
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