Mandurah's Alex Winwood takes out gold medal at Oceania Championships

The light flyweight fighter was forced to overcome a few stinging blows from opponent Maxi Mangea in the first round, but took control of the fight in the second and won the third on his way to a unanimous points decision to claim the championship title.

“It was a great feeling. To be able to bring a gold medal home is the reason I went over there so to achieve that is great,” he said.

“[My opponent] was a really good fighter. He pushed me to the very edge so I think to come back and win showed I performed the way I wanted to.”

Winwood had been in training for the tournament for roughly five days a week across a two-month span, and was in the only weight division to hold just one fight.

Once he and Mangea arrived at the ring they were forced to wait 20 minutes for the doctor to arrive.

The Eureka Boxing product’s coach, Brian Satori, said the win was a credit to Winwood’s preparation.

“Alex prepares himself for fights so well and his dedication is second to none,” Satori said.

“Ideally you’d like to have three or four fights at a tournament like that, and then to have the hiccup with waiting for the doctor, I think Alex took it all in his stride and fought a great fight against a tough opponent.”

Overall, Australia picked up six gold and two silver medals at the tournament.

Winwood’s victory means he is automatically selected to fight for Australia at the world championships in Hamburg, Germany this August.

The 19-year-old has already represented the nation a number of times, but said the pride of boxing for his country never wore off.

“When you walk to the ring and there’s someone holding the Australian flag in front of you, it makes it all pretty special,” he said.

“It’s something that never gets old and I’m really excited to be doing it again.”

Winwood will now continue his training at Eureka Boxing and search for fights in the lead up to the Hamburg tournament.