Rising Australian strawweight prospect Alex Winwood will face Reyneris Gutierrez in a scheduled 10-round contest at Metrocity, Northbridge, Australia on Friday.

Winwood has moved quickly as a professional, winning the national title on his debut and a WBC regional title in his second bout at junior flyweight is now dropping to strawweight in search of more hardware.

The diminutive 25-year-old is an aggressive all-action fighter who has won both his fights inside the distance so far and is keen push onwards and upwards quickly.

“[There] has been a rise leaps and bounds in the level of competition but I am proving one fight at a time that this is the level of competition I should be facing,” Winwood (2-0, 2 knockouts) told The Ring.

“He is an experienced opponent and is undefeated so I know he will have a lot of confidence coming in to this fight I think it’s a great match up.”

Winwood was a successful amateur, winning national titles before representing his country at the 2019 World Championships, 2020 Olympics and 2022 Commonwealth games. Those experiences helped give him a solid grounding and have allowed him to move fairly quickly.

“I’ve had a great apprenticeship in the amateur system but I’ve always known my style is much more suited to the professional style,” he said. “I don’t think I’m in a rush. If there were plenty of smaller guys in the weight class things maybe different and we might not have taken the top guys but there’s a limited pool of fighters at this weight class and I think I can mix it and beat these guys.”

Boxing’s lightest weight has undergone something of a makeover with fellow rising stars Oscar Collazo recently claiming the WBO championship. Ginjiro Shigeoka and his elder brother Yudai zeroing in on IBF and WBC titles respectively, while Erick Rosa is tabbed to face long-reigning WBC titlist Knockout CP Freshmart. Winwood gives the division even more strength and depth.

The Australian was recently able to add some fine tuning to his game in Las Vegas. He spent 5-weeks with stablemates the Moloney twins, while the brothers readied for their world title fights.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “I’m really grateful to the Moloney’s for letting me be part of a world title camp.”

That will have helped him grow as a fighter. Friday is his proving ground.

“I’m only looking to win and the better style I can do it in give myself and my team more confidence that we can keep targeting the big names.” he said.

Winwood is managed by Tony Tolj, who expertly guided the Moloney’s, and he strongly believes his newest acquisition can go on to do big things in the sport.

“Alex is an absolute star, a very special talent in the ring and out of the ring,” said Tolj, pulling no punches. “He’s just a great person that people will fall in love with and his unique style is very fan friendly, he is like a cross between Roy Jones and Mike Tyson.

“Alex has big goals and wants to become world champion faster than any Australian and the way he is progressing I can see that happen.”

Winwood is a young man in a hurry and this fight should give us more of an idea where he currently is. Gutirrez should provide a solid test but one I expect Winwood to overcome and score a stoppage in the second half of their contest.

Gutierrez (9-0, 2 KOs) has been a professional since February 2019 and is guided by former two-division titlist Rosendo Alvarez. All of his fights until this one have taken place at home in Nicaragua. He notably holds a pair of wins over experienced compatriot Byron Castellon (SD 10/ SD 10).