is a Japanese

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the WBC flyweight title from 2017 to 2018.

Amateur career

Higa turned pro at the age of 18, after a brief amateur career where he accrued a 36–8 record.

Professional career

Higa's manager is Boxing Hall of Fame member

Yoko Gushiken is a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1981. He held the WBA light-flyweight title from 1976 to 1981, making a total of 13 successful defences. Following his retirement from boxing, he remains popular in Japan as a ' ...

. Higa made his professional debut in June 2014, defeating Saengkeng Saknarong by

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

less than a minute into the first round. He won his first title by stopping previously undefeated Thai fighter Kongfah CP Freshmart in 7 rounds to claim the WBC Youth flyweight title. He went on to defend that title twice before claiming the

OPBF The Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) is a professional boxing organization that sanctions title fights in the Asian and Pacific region. History Oriental boxing started in the Philippines in 1946 after the Spanish-American War. While ...

flyweight belt against Filipino

gatekeeper A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something, for example via a city gate or bouncer, or more abstractly, controls who is granted access to a category or status. Gatekeepers assess who is "in or out", in the classic words of manage ...

Ardin Diale. Higa broke down and battered Diale with body shots, eventually stopping him in round 4.

Higa vs. Hernandez

On 2017, Higa won a world championship in his first try, defeating Juan Hernández by technical knockout to become the WBC flyweight title. Hernández had won the title earlier that year against Nawaphon Por Chokchai and was scheduled to make his first defense against Higa. However, he lost his belt at the scales due to coming in over the weight limit. Higa dominated Hernández, dropping him five times over the course over the fight before the referee finally stopped the contest. With the win, Higa became Okinawa's first boxing world champion since

Akinobu Hiranaka Akinobu Hiranaka (平仲明信, born Nobuaki Hiranaka, on November 14, 1963) is a former world champion boxer in the Light welterweight ( Super lightweight or former Junior welterweight) division. He won the WBA Junior Welterweight championsh ...

. After becoming a world champion, Higa said his goals were facing WBA champion

Kazuto Ioka is a Japanese professional boxer. He is the first male Japanese boxer and fourth Asian to be a four-weight world champion, having held the unified WBA and WBC mini-flyweight titles between 2011 and 2012, the WBA (Regular) light-flyweight tit ...

in a flyweight unification bout and breaking Japan's record of 15 consecutive knockouts.

Higa vs. Rosales

On 15 April, 2018, Higa defended his WBC flyweight title for the third time in a row against challenger

Cristofer Rosales Cristofer Jordan Rosales González (born 6 October 1994) is a Nicaraguan professional boxer who held the WBC flyweight title in 2018. Professional career Rosales turned professional in 2013 and had a record 26–3 before challenging Japanese b ...

. Higa lost the fight and his belt via TKO in the ninth round.

Higa vs. Tsutsumi

On 26 October, 2020, Higa fought Seiya Tsutsumi. The fight ended in a majority draw, one judge scoring it in favour of Higa, 96-94, while the other two judges saw the fight as a draw, scoring it 95-95.

Higa vs. Kobayashi

On 31 December, 2020, Higa fought Yuki Kobayashi, who was ranked #9 by the IBF and #14 by the WBO at bantamweight. Higa won via a fifth-round knockout.

Professional boxing record

Exhibition boxing record

References

External links

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Daigo Higa - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higa, Daigo 1995 births Living people Flyweight boxers Super-flyweight boxers World flyweight boxing champions World Boxing Council champions Sportspeople from Okinawa Prefecture Japanese male boxers Ryukyuan people People from Okinawa Prefecture