Strawweight star Alex Winwood now No.2 in WBC's latest world ratings
Noongar's Alex Winwood (3-0, 2KO) is now ranked No.2 at strawweight in the World Boxing Council's July ratings.
The 26-year-old Australian has won three titles within as many fights since turning pro in 2022.
He is hotly tipped to become Australia's fastest ever world champion, which is a record he has set himself, to beat fellow Aussie boxer Jeff Fenech's record, who won a world title in just his seventh fight in 1985. For more betting odds and casino games check out these betting sites.
The latest WBC's ratings released this week places the Mandurah man one place behind Mexican fighter Luis Castillo (20-0-1, 13KO), who is unbeaten in 21 bouts.
The reigning WBC strawweight champion is Panya Pradabsri (40-1, 24KO) and the interim champion is Yudai Shigeoka (7-0, 5KO).
32 from Thailand, Panya has eight times the knockouts that Winwood has had fights! Despite his inexperience, the former Olympian from Oz has already called out the beltholders above him.
"This is very special and brings me so much closer to my dream of being a world champion," posted Winwood on Instagram when the new ratings were released.
Just three fights into his promising career, manager Tony Tolj said it's an "unheard of" trajectory into the elite. Within just one month, he had jumped up 40 places with the IBO to break into their top 15 for July.
"To be honest, his rise is unheard of. There's no other boxer really on this planet, apart from [Vasiliy] Lomachenko, that's had three fights and is number two in the world a;ready. It's just unbelievable," Tolj told National Indigenous Times this week. "But it's a testament to him. He only wants to fight the best – and in boxing you can't always fight the best but we've managed to get the highest rated fighters in front of him".
In his pro debut, in November 2022, the Aussie went straight into a title fight against winning fighter Stinky Mario Bundu for the Western Australian light flyweight strap, which he won by second-round knockout.
Next came the WBC International light flyweight belt that he had to beat former world champion Tibo Monabesa for, in four rounds.
The latest accolade was the WBC International minimumweight title, which Reyneris Gutierrez took him the distance for, but Winwood was unanimously declared winner.
Trained by Angelo Hyder, his aim is to become the fastest world champion from his country at strawweight, to then move up divisions to collect more world titles.
The aspiring prospect aims to find better opponents with each passing fight and has instructed his team to begin looking at footage of potential opponent Castillo, who is WBO #1.
Manager Tolj confirmed the plan to target the prestigious green and gold WBC belt, "as they've looked after us,” he said, and added, “But we've got an eye on every single champion out there with the IBF, WBA and the WBO."
World Rankings
WBC #2 / IBF #13 / WBO #11 / IBO #14