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Lionel Messi beaten out by boxer Sergio Martinez for best Argentine athlete award

Lionel Messi was voted only the third best athlete in Argentina. First place went to boxer Sergio Martinez. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Lionel Messi

Each year, Argentina's association of sports journalists (Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos de Argentina) selects the best athlete for the Olimpia de Oro award. The award for 2012 went to boxer Sergio Martínez, who defeated Julio César Chávez for the WBC middleweight title in September, reports the Associated Press. Chávez is considered to be one of the greatest fighters to come out of Mexico.

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, who has been called "perhaps the greatest to have ever played the game" came in third, despite breaking a 40-year-old record for the most goals in a calendar year (90).

Second place went to Sebastián Crismanich, a taekwondo fighter who took home the country's only gold medal in the 2012 London Games.

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