FIGHTNEWSASIA 2019 BOXING AWARDS; PACQUIAO TOPS IN PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

By Carlos Costa

THE fight between undefeated Naoya Inoue of Japan and Nonito Donaire of the Philippines was voted as the Fight of the Year by FightNewsAsia for 2019.

The 26-year old Inoue scored a unanimous decision over 37-year old Donaire in a hard earned victory last Nov. 7 at the Super Arena in Saitana, Japan, to conquer the World Boxing Association Super World bantamweight and International Boxing Federation World bantamweight titles.

It was the 19th straight win by Inoue against no loss nor draw, while Donaire suffered his 6th defeat against 40 wins. Inoue is next schedule to fight on April 25, defending the same two titles against a still unknown boxer at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, USA.

A possible opponent for “The Monster” Naoya Inoue is Ormocano John Riel Casimero, a tough and experienced three-division world champion

The Knockout of the Year was won by Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder of USA who scored it over Luis Ortiz of Cuba in the 7th round last Nov. 23 in MGM Grand.

The Upset of the Year was scored by Johnriel Casimero of the Philippines via TKO in the 3rd round over shocked defending champion Zolani Tete of South Africa in Birminghan.

The Longest Champion is Jerwin “Pretty Boy” Ancajas of the Philippines who made his 8th successful title defense Miguel Gonzales of Chile via a 6th round TKO last Dec. 7 in Mexico.

The Most Promising Boxer – Carl Jammes Martin of the Philipines.

Prospects of the Year – Reymart Gaballo and Jayr Raquinel (OPBF flyweight champion) both from the Philippines.

Performance of the Year – Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines in defeating tough welterweight Keith Thurman of the USA.

The Chinese Fighter of the Year Award goes to unbeaten world champion Xu Can (18-2, 3 KO’s) for his three winning performances of 2019. In January, “The Chinese Monster” defeated Puerto Rican Jesus Rojas in Houston, Texas, to claim the WBA Featherweight World Title.

Xu Can then defended belt knocking out Japanese Shun Kubo in May in Fuzhou, China, and defended it again outclassing Mexican-American Manny Robles (18-1, 8 KO’s) last November in Indio, California.