Australian strawweight up-and-comer Alex Winwood kept his hopes of a world title shot alive with a classy display of boxing to defeat Filipino southpaw Cris Ganoza by 10-round unanimous decision in the latest edition of the ‘Thunderdome’ series at Metro City in Perth, Western Australia on Friday.

Winwood (4-0, 2 KOs) has repeatedly said he wants to win a major world title in fewer fights than Australian hero Jeff Fenech, who claimed the IBF bantamweight belt in just his seventh pro bout against Japan’s Satoshi Shingaki back in 1985.

That dream remains firmly intact with Winwood’s shutout victory over Ganoza (20-6, 10 KOs).

The 26-year-old from Perth, who is a regular sparring partner of boxing twins Andrew and Jason Moloney, wasted no time getting to work. He bossed the center ring, backing up Ganoza and using his lateral movement and clever footwork to keep the visitor guessing.

Ganoza performed better in the second round and had some success to the body, but a right hand from Winwood shook him on the ropes.

Winwood switched from orthodox to southpaw throughout the bout, having great success from both stances. His body work in particular was a standout as he raked the ribcage of his opponent before returning his attack back upstairs.

Ganoza was on the attack in the fourth before a pair of right uppercuts to the body from Winwood gave him pause for thought. Ganoza came back with a solid right hook to the temple, but it failed to put a dent in Winwood.

Winwood had Ganoza backpedaling for much of the fifth, bulling his opponent to the ropes and ripping to the body with vicious intent. The sixth saw Winwood working Ganoza over with the jab and again investing heavily in the body. At the bell Ganoza ambled back to his corner on unsteady legs.

Winwood repeated the treatment in the seventh, using left and rights to the head to set up hard blows downstairs. By this stage of the bout Ganoza’s wild attacks were becoming less and less frequent as the fight was being beaten out of him.

Ganoza tried to take it up to Winwood in the eighth but got the worse of the exchanges. Things didn’t get much better for Ganoza in the ninth and 10th rounds, with Winwood repeatedly beating him to the punch and landing the crisper, harder shots.

The pressure, volume and elusiveness of Winwood was the story of the fight and it was reflected on the judges’ scorecards. All three ringside officials awarded the bout to Winwood 100-90.

Winwood is expected to face undefeated Mexican southpaw Luis Castillo (21-0, 13 KOs) next after the WBC ordered the fight with the winner to be installed as the mandatory challenger to their titleholder Yudai Shigeoka (8-0, 5 KOs). 

The 26-year-old Japanese southpaw knocked out Ganoza in three rounds in their clash in July last year and claimed the green belt in his last bout by unanimous decision against Thai veteran Petchmanee CP Freshmart 40-2 (24 KOs) in October.

The Winwood vs Castillo bout is being targeted for April next year.

“I’ve gotta get through [Ganoza] before anything else happens,” Winwood told National Indigenous Times before the bout.

“He’s next on my hit list and I just need to be very wary of keeping my guard tight. If he does try to bang them in I’ll be ready for a counter.

“I’ve always handled southpaws pretty well. If I’m fighting three in a row, I think I’m going to be on song by the time I finally get in there with the champ.”

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