Inqui-Ring minds want to know. According to the results of The Bible of Boxing?s ongoing poll, almost 40% of the fans think that Nonito Donaire ?will make the biggest impact? in the coming year.
Junior featherweight Donaire, 30 (30-1-0, 19 KOs), first entered the squared circle 11 years ago. His only loss was in his second fight, when he was decisioned by someone called Rosendo Sanchez (4-1-0, 1 KO). ?The Filipino Flash? has come a long way since. He?s the Ring, WBO, and IBF champ, and is fifth-ranked on Ring?s pound-for-pound list. Donaire?s most recent win was by ninth-round TKO of Toshiaki Nishioka in October. He?s scheduled to face Jorge Arce on December 15.
A distant second to Donaire, with 22% of the vote, is WBC lightweight champ Adrien Broner, 23 (25-0-0, 21 KOs). ?The Problem?, who had his pro debut only four years ago, is ranked number one by Ring. He last fought earlier this month, defeating Antonio DeMarco by eighth-round TKO.
WBC junior middleweight champ Saul Alvarez is in third place with almost 13% of the vote. ?Canelo?, 22 (41-0-1, 30 KOs) began fighting in 2005. Third-ranked by Ring, the cinnamon-haired Mexican last fought in September, taking out Josesito Lopez by fifth-round TKO.
Not quite eight percent of the respondents agree with my own pick: Gennady Golovkin. The 30-year-old WBA middleweight champ first entered the ring in 2006 and is undefeated (24-0-0, 21 KOs). Third-ranked by Ring, the Kazakh?s most recent victory was over Grzegorz Proksa, whom he TKO?d in the fifth in September. ?GGG? is scheduled to fight in January, though an opponent has yet to be named.
Golovkin has what it takes to become an absolute superstar. With the possible exception of Sergio Martinez, I can?t think of anyone likely to take him, and I?m not excluding such worthies as Daniel Geale and Felix Sturm. Peter Quillin? No disrespect, but Golovkin would have Quillin for breakfast. And, like WWE?s Ryback, he?d follow up his meal with ?Feed?Me?More.?
