This is what Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire Jr. gave as a gift to Filipinos on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2012, as he was declared as RING Magazine’s 2012 Fighter of the Year.
Donaire earned the prestigious award for boxers after he was chosen by fans at a RingTV.com year-end polls. The Filipino boxer garnered a dominating 55.2% of the total votes received by the RING website from fans.
Juan Manuel Marquez, who knocked out Manny Pacquiao in their fourth bout, was in second place with 27.3% of the votes. Boxing analysts predicted earlier that Marquez victory over Pacquiao may earn him the top spot for the Fighter of the Year.
The four-division champion Donaire has won four bouts in 2012. He won over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka and Jorge Arce.
According to RING editor Doug Fischer:
The 30-year-old veteran fought four times in 2012 and in the process of doing so 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 who took part in RingTV.com’s year-end awards poll
Elite fighters – those precious few who fans and boxing media view as the pound-for-pound best, seldom fight more than twice a year. Donaire was the exception to that rule in 2012.
Congratulations to The Filipino Flash.
Donaire, who doesn’t require that his opponents undergo the same testing and makes the results of his drug tests public, was commended by fans and media alike in 2012, the year that performance-enhancing drug use became a hot-button issue in the sport after Lamont Peterson, Andre Berto, Antonio Tarver and Erik Morales were each found to have banned substances in their bodies either prior to or after major fights.
To my dear readers, do you think Donaire deserves to win the 2012 Fighter of the Year Award? Let your voice be heard by providing your comments below this article.
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