ESPN named “Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire as their selection for Boxer of the Year, in an article by Dan Rafael, released Decem­ber 24, 2012. “It might sound strange, but no, Manny Pacquiao was not the best fighter from the Philippines in 2012. That honor goes to ‘The Filipino Flash,’ junior feather­weight titlist Nonito Donaire, who had a year for the ages,” Rafael wrote.

MANILA (PNA) --Three-division world boxing champion Nonito Donaire Jr. doesn’t want to ac­cept it yet but slowly, but surely, “The Filipino Flash” is fast com­ing up to his billing as compa­triot and eight division belt owner Manny Pacquiao’s heir apparent based on the new list of pound-­for-pound best released by all award-giving bodies.

Juan Manuel Marquez will have his hands full in his attempt to convince his wife to allow him to continue with his career. As talks continue to swirl about the possibility of staging a fifth fight between him and Manny Pacquiao in 2013, Marquez’s wife Erika told the Mexican media that she is very much against it.

In between giving an im­promptu tour of his ultra-modern residence at Forbes Park over the weekend, Manny Pacquiao rekin­dled the not-so-distant memories of his epic brawl with Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas, admitting that he got hit by a perfect punch and vowing that he will rebound from that horrifying loss. “I got caught,” said Pacquiao in Pilipino on the terrace of his P388-million house, motion­ing with his hands how Marquez struck him with the right hand that sent him to sleep with one second remaining before the end of the sixth round of their welter­weight war at the MGM Grand.

VANCOUVER via MERAL­CO BOLTS - For eight divi­sion world champion Manny Pacquiao, his defeat to Mexican Juan Manuel Mar­quez was God’s holy will. For his mother Dionisia, it was a punishment. “That’s what he gets for changing his religion,” Nanay Dionisia, a devout Catholic, said in an inter­view in General Santos City. The Filipino boxing icon was knocked out by long­time rival Juan Manuel Mar­quez in their fourth encoun­ter on December 8.

Boy, ‘san ka?’ were the first words Manny Pacquiao said after regaining consciousness inside the ring, according to childhood friend and trainer Buboy Fernandez. (inset) AP.
LAS VEGAS – The bond be­tween Manny Pacquiao and Buboy Fernandez is so strong it was his childhood friend whom the boxing superstar first looked for the moment he regained conscious­ness after being knocked out cold inside the ring on Saturday night Dec. 9,(Sunday, Manila time).

MANILA, Philippines - Return­ing to the Philippines on Wednes­day (Dec. 12) morning after a devastating loss to Juan Manuel Marquez, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao announced that he was not yet ready to abandon his boxing career. “May mga susunod pang laban. Hindi natin sila tatantanan (There will be other fights. We won’t let them go),” Pacquiao said in an interview over dzBb radio. He was explaining his arrival statement at the airport, where he said: “We will rise again.”

SAN FRANCISCO, Cal. (PNA via PCSO) -- The saga of the long, nine-year- old Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rivalry con­tinues. This is because, the eight- division world boxing cham­pion’s sixth round knockout loss to the Mexican icon meant nothing as far the question as to which of the two top pound-for-pound fighters was not settled, ac­cording to Pacquiao’s chief trainer Freddie Roach. “The doubts that punctu­ated the two boxers’ previ­ous fights remain,” Roach told People’s Journal in an interview Tuesday at his Wild Card Gym where Pacquiao had pitched camp prior to his fourth fight with Marquez held last Saturday at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.