Christopher Guerrero is a young man in a hurry.

The 23-year-old Canadian welterweight has improved rapidly and when he's been asked to step up, he has done so definitively.

The proof is in his work. He won his first four fights, all four round bouts on points. Since then, only one of his last nine opponents have heard the final bell. He holds solid wins, all coincidently in the fourth round against Mexican veteran Jose Lopez (30-8-1, 16 KOs), trialhorse Courtney Pennington (17-8-3, 7 KOs) and, most recently, Dennis Dauti (25-5-2, 9 KOs).

"The better the opponent, the better I am," Guerrero (13-0, 8 knockouts) told The Ring. "It also has a lot to do with what we do in the gym and what I implement in my everyday life. I'm very strict. I train three times a day, morning, afternoon, night. Always doing something to get better and I think that's showing now."

Part of the evolution took place a year ago when Guerrero and his coach, Giuseppe Moffa, left Montreal and headed to Philadelphia to train alongside reigning IBF welterweight titlist Jaron "Boots" Ennis.

No longer a big fish in a small pond, Guerrero had to fight for his existence during a nine-day stint in the City of "Brotherly Love" sparring 15-rounds.

"Boots is wow," he said. "I'll always take my hat off to him, it's like effortless, it's like [soccer player Lionel] Messi, he has that gene for boxing.

"Boots is very nice but once I got in the ring he showed no mercy, he wanted to beat me up, I had no choice but to stand my ground. For my character, it matured me in the ring, it also gave me another look on how boxing should be, it's kill or be killed, that's the attitude I got there."

The next step in his career will come on Thursday against Oliver Quintana (23-3, 16 KOs) at the Montreal Casino, Montreal.

"We're not even looking at the opponent, it's all about me," he said bluntly. "No energy spent on the other guy, it's just about me, how I'm feeling, how I'm going to box and how my game plan is going to go. That's it."

However, while he pays his opponent no mind, he is excited about the platform he will have to perform on.

"I find it's more of a big deal that it's the co-main event than it's a title fight, to be a co-main event in my hometown, I can imagine how it would feel to be the main event," he said allowing himself to look into the future. "A lot of champions won this [WBC Continental Americas title] Jessie Vargas, Mario Barrios, the WBC is a very prized belt to have, the green and gold.

"Just to move up that high on the card means a lot to me."

Eye of The Tiger President Camille Estephan has known Guerrero since he was 13 when he ran into him at one of their events.

"Ghislain Maduma was fighting for the WBC Continental title, [he won] and this little fat, pudgy kid gets up in the ring somehow and wants to take a picture with the title, I'm like 'Who's this kid?' He looks at me and says, 'One day, it'll be my turn.' and here he is today," recalled Estephan with a grin on his face. "You couldn't right it any better than that.

"He's an amazing fighter. In my 15 years in boxing, this guy is the guy who has asked for the most competition, he always wants a better fighter. Him and his coach, Giuseppe Moffa, they bring us these names and we're like, 'Are you sure you're ready for this?' And they're like, 'Yes.' they want them. It's exciting."

Quintana has been a professional since 2014. The Mexicali native won his first 15 fights before coming unstuck against Christian Bielma (UD 10). To his credit, in a direct rematch he gained revenge winning a 10-round unanimous decision.

The 28-year-old was stopped by Chester Parada (TKO 10) but has also won a rematch by 8-round split decision. In between the Parada fights he lost to Julio Luna Avila (TK0 5).

Asanou-Patera, plus undercard bouts, will be broadcast on ESPN+ at 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT