At 17, Long Beach’s Alexander Gueche already has his high school diploma and could do anything he wants to do in life. But, for now, boxing’s his path, and when asked why, he shows himself to be wise beyond his years.

“I was thinking, I'm still young, my body's good, so I might as well keep doing what I'm good at, rather than just focusing on a job right now,” he said. “If this doesn't work out, I still have the opportunity to do that when I'm older. But right now, I'm not going to have this, and I’m not going to be this age ever again.”

Talk like that can make an old man jealous, and most young men who speak those words don’t realize the truth in them until they’re old, so Gueche is ahead of the game already. As for a job, he’s got one, having made his pro debut in August with a 33-second knockout of Steveen Angeles Cruz.

“The first punch I landed, I was like, oh, he's not going to be able to take these shots,” he said of getting the first-round finish. “So I just took him out. It's crazy in the moment. You're not really thinking; you're just going for it. You're very excited.”

So were the fans in attendance at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg, Texas, and Gueche is likely to have more nights like that as he works his way up the ranks. At the moment, the plan is to have him fight in November in Costa Rica, then once he turns 18 in December, the rest of the boxing world will open up to him. Not that he’s in a rush. In fact, he may be the most patient teenager you’ve ever run into.

“It isn't that hard,” he said. “Once you get in there and spar with people that are at the top, I know I have to get better. It's not going to be easy to get there so I just got to keep getting better, and you’ve got to adjust to 12-round fights, eight rounds, six rounds. It's a process.”

Working not just in the JackRabbit gym with trainer Ivan Sylve but around the area at the Wild Card, Brickhouse and Robert Garcia’s gym, Gueche is honing his craft and preparing for the rigors of the pro game after a stellar amateur stint that saw him win two National titles while earning a number one ranking in the 112-pound youth male division. But sticking around to make a run for the Olympics was never the plan for someone who has been in the gym since he was six years old.

“I never really thought about the Olympics,” Gueche said. “I just always wanted to get experience from the amateurs, though. That's what the amateurs were for, for me to get better.”

And by the time he was 15, the Cambodian-American decided he was starting to get good enough to pursue his sport professionally.

“That was when I really started getting better,” he said. “I know being a professional isn't the easiest job, so it does take a lot of time to decide that this is what I want to do. If I wanted to turn pro, I wanted to be at the highest level. I know if you're not at the highest level, it's not going to be as good for you.”

So he had to take his lumps, and who better to give him some than future hall of famer Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.

“After I sparred him, I was kind of like, ‘Damn, it's pretty fun,’’” Gueche laughs. “It's pretty fun fighting and it's something I want to do.”

Work with current WBO super flyweight champ Junto Nakatani also convinced Gueche that he was on the right path, and two months after graduating high school, he’s here. Unbeaten, with 13,000 Instagram followers, and ready for the world. Don’t expect it all to get to his head, though.

“It's very easy for me, actually,” he said when asked how he stays humble as things keep getting bigger and bigger around him. “For me, all I got to do is get in the ring with someone that's bigger, that's better, and it makes me know I'm not the best yet, so I should just be humble.”

So, no TikTok dances anytime soon?

He laughs.

“If it gets me popular.”

Yeah, he’s still just 17. And that’s all right.