At a time when it was customary for leading boxers as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to fight two, at most three fights a year, this Filipino future Hall of Fame inductee figured in four title bouts in 2012 and won them all decisively against fellow marquee names at that.
So impressed were the Ring Magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America that this Filipino pugilist was declared as the Fighter of the Year continuing a Pinoy streak set by Pacquiao before the turn of the decade.
Indeed the year 2012 could be considered as the highest point in the career of Nonito Donaire, Jr.
Donaire started off by winning the WBO super bantamweight championship on Feb 2, 2012 by decision over Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. Nonito thoroughly outclassed Vasquez, son of a former great Puerto Rican junior featherweight champion of the same name and even scored a knockdown in the ninth round. However, a Latino judge saw the fight quizzingly 115-112 in favor of Vasquez Jr. The two other judges both scored the fight 117-110 in favor of Nonito Jr. Though many believed he should have won on all scorecards, Donaire had to settle for split decision at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, Texas.
Donaire clips Vazquez to the chin.
Five months later, on July 7, 2012 Nonito Jr. took on the tall African champion Jeffrey Mathebula in a unification for the WBO and IBF titles. It was exactly five years after Donaire won his first world title at flyweight by brutal knockout of the brash Armenian defending WBO and IBO titleholder Vic Darchinyan on July 7, 2007. Nonito had Mathebula on the defensive for much of the fight with his aggression and powerful combination punching that merited him a hard knockdown in the 4th round. The judges at the Home Depot arena in Carson City had Nonito winner by an average of eight points.
Donaire connects with an uppercut at Mathebula.
By this time, Nonito had already broken into the Ring Magazine's top ten pound for pound fighters just behind Mayweather and Pacquiao. This was also due to his previous year's impressive wins over Fernando Montiel (TKO2) for the WBC-WBO bantamweight championship and UD12 over then unbeaten Omar Narvaez in a title defense.
On October 13, 2012, back in Carson, California, Donaire fought Japanese touted speedster Toshiaki Nishioka who had been ranked first in the division by Ring magazine. Donaire officially relinquished the IBF super bantamweight title hours before the fight by declining to participate in the IBF's mandated weight check. When, by the ninth round, Nishioka had been knocked down twice, his corner asked the referee to end the fight, handing Donaire a TKO victory to retain his WBO title and capture the vacant Ring Magazine super bantamweight title.
Donaire drops and stops Nishioka in the 9th round.
Having chalked up three impressive wins, many boxing pundits as well as of his supporters urged Donaire to take the remainder of the year off.
But another challenger called him out and Nonito wanted to prove the critics wrong that he had avoided a confrontation against this Mexican who like him, had risen through and won world titles in different weight classes.
That Mexican was Jorge Arce who had established a reputation as a tough knockout artist softened only by his knack for wearing cowboy and playfully sticking a lollipop on his mouth before entering the ring.
Donaire demolishes Arce in three rounds.
On December 15, 2012, in Houston, Texas, Donaire faced Arce and retained his titles against the much touted Mexican with a third-round KO. It was a virtual mismatch as Donaire knocked down Arce in the second and also in the third round before finally knocking him out. A miserable image of Arce before the knockout was him in a desperate act of braggadocio, sticking his jaw out and daring Nonito to hit him. At least Arce went out swinging--- at air.
Those were the days.
And that was the last halcyon year of Philippine boxing.