MANILA, Philippines -- Filipino boxers Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria all received honorable mentions as sports network ESPN's Fighter of the Year for 2011.

Andre Ward, the undisputed king of the super middleweight division, was named 2011 Fighter of the Year, but ESPN acknowledged the excellent campaigns that the Filipino boxers had this past year.

ESPN's Dan Rafael wrote that Pacquiao "didn't have the kind of megayear he enjoyed when he won his three Fighter of the Year awards (2006, 2008 and 2009), but boxing's biggest star still had a fine campaign."

Pacquiao defeated former champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley in May 2011 via unanimous decision, but struggled against Juan Manuel Marquez, his great rival, in their trilogy bout in November.

Rafael nevertheless credited Pacquiao for waging "a terrific fight" against Marquez. "The third bout was another close and exciting fight that Pacquiao won this time via majority decision," he added.

Bounce-back year

Viloria, the reigning World Boxing Organization flyweight champion, bounced back from a rough 2010 to win another flyweight title and notched his greatest career victory yet in December.

Viloria lost a junior flyweight belt in 2010, getting upset by Carlos Tamara via a 12th-round knockout. He considered retiring from boxing after that loss, but decided to continue and had two impressive victories in 2011.

"In July, Viloria got a shot at flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Miranda. With a supportive crowd in Honolulu behind him, Viloria scored a 1st-round knockdown and won a comfortable decision to claim his 3rd world title," Rafael wrote.

"In December, Viloria scored the biggest win of his career in a mild upset when he battered Giovani Segura, the junior flyweight world champion who had given up his title to move up in weight," he added.

Viloria thoroughly outclassed Segura in their bout, even causing a hematoma to develop on the right side of the latter's face. The referee was forced to stop the fight in the 8th round, and Segura was sent to a hospital shortly after.

Climbing up the ranks

ESPN commended Donaire for his impressive rise to stardom in 2011, especially for his brutal second-round knockout of Fernando Montiel last February.

"Donaire... simply destroyed (Montiel) in the second round with a massive left hook," Rafael wrote.

But 2011 also saw Donaire endure a long period of inactivity due to a promotional dispute with Top Rank and Golden Boy, costing him precious months of ring time.

"The sides eventually settled, and (Donaire) returned to action in October," Rafael added. "Donaire met Omar Narvaez of Argentina, a long-reigning flyweight titlist who had won a junior bantamweight belt in 2010, defended it three times and then jumped to bantamweight."

"It was a cakewalk, as Donaire pitched a clean 120-108 shutout on all three scorecards to embarrass Narvaez, who spent most of the fight petrified to engage."

Other fighters

Aside from the three Filipino boxers, Hernan "Tyson" Marquez, Lamont Peterson, Bernard Hopkins, Jorge Arce and Miguel Cotto also received honorable mentions for Fighter of the Year.

Undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., who only fought once in 2011, did not get a honorable mention.