Daigo Higa’s Knockout Rise Gives Way to Bantamweight Battles
Daigo Higa is a Japanese boxer from Okinawa who held the WBC flyweight championship from 2017 to 2018. He later pursued world titles at bantamweight, including a July 2026 challenge against Riku Masuda.
The flyweight championship run
Higa stopped Juan Hernández Navarrete in the sixth round on May 20, 2017, to win the WBC flyweight belt. Successful defenses followed against Thomas Masson and Moisés Fuentes. His opening fifteen professional victories all came by knockout.
He lost the championship at the weigh-in before facing Cristofer Rosales in April 2018. Rosales then stopped him in the ninth round, giving Higa his first professional defeat. Higa subsequently returned at heavier weights.
New challenges at bantamweight
His bantamweight title attempts included a decision loss to Yoshiki Takei in September 2024 and draws against Seiya Tsutsumi and Antonio Vargas in 2025. After announcing retirement and then reconsidering, he faced Masuda for the vacant WBA bantamweight title in Tokyo on July 20, 2026. Masuda won a split decision, with scores of 117–111 twice and 113–115. Higa’s record after that contest was 21 wins, four defeats and three draws, with nineteen knockout victories.
Against Masuda, Higa tried to close distance and attack the body while the taller southpaw worked behind his jab and counters. Their twelve-round contest contrasted with Higa’s rapid flyweight finishes, showing how his later championship opportunities increasingly required sustained work against larger opponents.
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Boxing, Boxing History
