{"id":808497,"date":"2026-07-18T16:05:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808497\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T16:05:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T16:05:26","slug":"after-alcohol-and-soul-searching-higa-maintains-world-title-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/808497\/","title":{"rendered":"After alcohol and soul searching, Higa maintains world title dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Higa<\/a>, The Ring’s No. 5 bantamweight, was so close yet so far from winning the WBA 115-pound title against Antonio Vargas last July. Ultimately, the Japanese fighter settled for a draw which marked the beginning of a difficult period personally.”To be honest, I didn’t do much, I spent most of my time going out and having drinks,” Higa (21-3-3, 19 KOs) told The Ring<\/a>. “I was going out and drinking alcohol almost every day.”The all-action fighter, who previously held the WBC flyweight title, had fallen short in three bantamweight title shots. A narrow 12-round decision defeat by then-WBO ruler Yoshiki Takei<\/a> was followed by consecutive unanimous draws against Seiya Tsutsumi<\/a> and Vargas for WBA honors.<\/p>\n

After the latter, he turned to drink and contemplated stepping away from boxing altogether.<\/p>\n

“I spent a lot of time thinking about whether I should continue boxing or move on and pursue a different life outside the sport,” he said. “I was seriously considering a life outside of boxing and what my future would look like.<\/p>\n

“I think I would have found a regular job and worked seriously, probably as a sales representative.”<\/p>\n

However, the 30-year-old decided to step away from alcohol and began training again.<\/p>\n

“Once I decided to return, things changed,” he said. “I imagined what my life would be like if I continued boxing and what it would be like if I pursued something else. In the end, I realized that boxing is what I truly want to do, feeling that was the path meant for me.<\/p>\n

“Sparring and training became my priority, and alcohol does not really help with performance, so now I keep it in moderation.”<\/p>\n

Things came together and he will face countryman Masuda for the WBA ‘regular’ 118-pound world title at the Kokuguikan in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

“I think it will be a very good and exciting fight for the fans,” he said. “Riku is a tall southpaw with good punching power… his left hand is particularly dangerous and one of his best weapons.<\/p>\n

“On the other hand, because I am the smaller fighter, I believe my ability to get inside and explode in close range is one of my strengths.”<\/p>\n

Higa has done a lot of soul searching since the Vargas draw and hopes to utilise this opportunity so he can position himself for further big fights later down the line.<\/p>\n

“It feels like the past year has gone by very quickly,” he said. “Looking back on that Vargas fight, I think I could have been more aggressive. Over the past year, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my future and realized that I still want to box and become a world champion.<\/p>\n

“If I’m going to do this, then my goal is to reach the top. I would also like the opportunity to face elite fighters such as Jesse Rodriguez.”<\/p>\n

Masuda<\/a> (10-1, 9 KOs), rated one spot lower than Higa in The Ring’s rankings at No. 6, has moved quickly since his 2022 debut. He fell narrowly short in a 10-round bout against future WBA boss Tsutsumi (UD 10) when challenging for Japanese honors in August 2023, though the setback merely spurred him forward.He enjoyed a breakthrough fight stopping four-weight champion Nonito Donaire after eight rounds<\/a>, which were entertaining early and increasingly dominant in the 28-year-old southpaw’s favor on March 15.Questions and\/or comments can be sent to Anson at elraincoat@live.co.uk and you can follow him on X@AnsonWainwr1ght<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Higa, The Ring’s No. 5 bantamweight, was so close yet so far from winning the WBA 115-pound title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[90965,64,63,269490,802,232239,1920,1000,85,2974],"class_list":["post-808497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-object-object","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bantamweight","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-articles","tag-boxing-news","tag-interview","tag-sports","tag-the-ring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}