The brand new welterweight champion of the World Boxing Association (WBA), Marcos “El Chino” Maidana, has been awarded the prestigious “Olimpia de Oro” award from the Circle of Journalists (CPD) of Argentina. They selected him as the best Argentine sportsman of 2013, at a gala ceremony which took place on Tuesday night in Buenos Aires. Maidana (35-3, 31 KOs) had the best performance of his career last Saturday night when he scored an upset twelve round unanimous decision over Adrien Broner in San Antonio, Texas.

“I am grateful to everyone who voted. I want to thank my family and friends who have always with me, my team, and to all the people in my village, Margarita,” Maidana said. “I fulfilled my dream of becoming a champion in the division that I wanted, so now I am going to rest. I’m very happy to close this year in this type of manner and I hope that 2014 will also start very well. I dedicate this to everyone, my wife, Margarita and all Argentine fighters. Argentine boxing is having a good period right now. We have greats like Juan Carlos Reveco, who is here with us, Lucas Matthysse, ‘Maravilla’ Martinez, Omar Narvaez many more, and this award is theirs.”