By: Albert Alvarez
Fighter of the year goes to Nonito Donaire- Hands down, Nonito Donaire is my fighter of the year for 2012. With 4, yes 4 big victories in 2012 over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Jeffrey Mathebula, Toshiaki Nishioka, and Jorge Arce, that is more than enough in my book to crown Nonito. On top of that, Nonito is also doing the right thing by cleaning up the sport in taking random blood and urine testing 365 24/7. Both feats to me in this day and age speak volumes. The sport of boxing would be in a much better place if every fighter had Nonito’s train of thought in fighting more than once or twice a year, and by being a real pioneer in taking the necessary steps to put an end to this finger pointing drug problem.
Fight of the year for me goes to Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado- Marquez vs. Pacquiao may more than likely get the award, but if they do, it will only be because they are both household names that fought on a much larger stage. But to me, the toe to toe war that Rios and Alvarado had was on some real torture chamber type of level slugfest. It was 7 blood thirst rounds, and the scary thing is that both fighters wanted to keep fighting to push their fighting wills to the limit.
Robert Garcia is my trainer of the year- The man trained Nonito Donaire who will be a finalist or the victor for fighter of the year. He also trained Brandon Rios in his classic war versus Mike Alvarado, also is doing a great job training his little brother, Mikey Garcia, and has improved the skills of Marcos Maidana. I feel that Garcia was a very tough fighter when he fought, and because of that fire, Garcia is able to transfer that fire and ring knowledge onto his fighters.
Knockout of the year goes to Juan Manuel Marquez knocking out Manny Pacquiao in the 6th round- Danny Garcia had a great K.O. when he made Morales spin when he connected on that left hook bomb. That bomb also shook up Khan’s world, but the right hand that Pacquiao swallowed will go down in history. Marquez landed the killer shot by circling Pacquiao and placing his opponent in position to eat the shot. At that time, there was nothing that Pacquiao could do to move out of the way of that thunderous right hand.
Prospect of the year goes to J’ Leon Love- This middleweight is a very strong fighter with a bright future. At 14-0 with 8 ko’s, this kid has the total package, great body work, turns his punches over, great smile, and is always super friendly with his fans. What’s not to like? George Groves also gets consideration here, as does Jose Benavidez Jr., Julian ”J-Rock” Williams, Ivan Redkach, and many others. Picking prospect of the year is always very hard for me to pick, but Love takes it for me. I’ll tell you something else right now, and that is that Preston Freeman is already my front runner for this award in 2013.
