Donaire finishes off a fantastic year with a fantastic win!

By Jack Price @PriceyJ97.

2012 has been an extremely successful year for Nonito Donaire, who is now extremely close to being chosen as our Fighter Of The Year, and the 'Filipino Flash' finished it all off with a 3rd round KO against Jorge Arce in Texas last night (December 15th). 

This has been a fight that we had all been anticipating for a very long time. Not because it was a mouth-watering prospect that was guaranteed to provide us with action, it was basically just because it should have happened three years ago and now it was finally happening. Donaire is a level above Arce, but we were expecting the Mexican to make a very good fight of it. Unfortunately Arce never really got into the swing of things and had to eat up Donaire's jab every time he tried to get in. 

The first round lacked action with Donaire working well off of the jab and Arce looking to land bombs but wildly missing. The action picked up a little in the second and Donaire floored Arce with a short right hand. It was clear from this point onwards that Donaire had a big power and speed advantage. He wasn't throwing much leather, but every punch that he did throw sent Arce's head flying backwards. 

Arce was actually having his best round of the fight in the 3rd, staying close to Donaire and working well on the inside. However, with just 30 seconds left to go, the Filipino picked up the pressure and sent Arce to the canvas again. He rose to his feet, just, but only to be sent down again for a third and final time. 

This was Donaire's 4th win out of 4 fights this year, and his 3rd successful defence of his WBO super-bantamweight title. The 4-weight world champion just gets better and better with every fight and has now cemented his place as a serious pound-for-pound contender.