Waianae’s Asa Stevens has returned home as a world champion.

The 17-year old who captured the flyweight championship at Boxing’s Youth World Championships in Budapest, Hungary arrived in the islands on Saturday night and will be the toast of the town on Monday as the recipient of a championship parade.

Representing Team USA, Stevens defeated 2018 European Champion Ivan Price of England by unanimous decision. Despite boxing being an individual sport, Stevens says this was a victory for everyone in Hawaii.

“You know I think about it, and about everyone a lot because they’re really a big help and that’s the reason why I’m at that level. It’s because of everyone that supported me and who helped me out through it, so when I win, everyone wins,” Stevens told KHON2 Sports Director Rob DeMello.

The flyweight boxed a total of five times through the 11-day tournament, which included a split decision win over Patrick Clancy (Ireland), unanimous decision wins over Ibrahim Boukedim (France) and Samandar Kholmurodov (Uzbekistan), as well as a split decision win over Bhavesh Kattimani (India) in the semifinals.

“I learned a lot from winning this world championship. My mind became stronger. I gained a lot of experience from fighting and seeing all the different countries fight and it just means a lot.”

His unanimous decision victory early Friday morning Hawaii time, earned him his first World Championship title and USA’s first youth flyweight title since Shakur Stevenson in 2014.

Stevens has had his eyes locked on a run at the 2020 Olympics and his gold medal winning effort this past week is certainly a launching pad to make his dream a reality.

“This is basically the same process that I went through this whole year as the same process I’m going to be going through to make the Olympics. So, it’s basically the same thing but this is for my own age as a youth 17-18 so it just shows that I can be on that level. It gives me lots of confidence,” said Stevens.

The championship parade will start at noon on Labor Day starting at the Waianae Harbor and ending at the Waianae Mall.