The 24-year-old Higa, who moved up to the 118-pound division after losing the title after having failed to make the 112-pound flyweight limit in his third title defense against Cristofer Rosales of Nicaragua in April 2018.

Although the Okinawa-born Higa, who has the Japanese record of 15 straight knockouts with two others, returned to the ring in February 2020 by stopping a Philippine boxer, he did not seem to be very happy despite the victory, citing a lack of motivation for continuing boxing.

Higa eventually left the gym he belonged to every since his debut in 2014, and moved to Yokohama from Tokyo as his mentor-cum-trainer Joji Nogi had quit the gym earlier. Nogi lives in Yokoha

In the morning Higa runs up a hill and rides a bicycle up steep hills as there are many hilly spots in Yokohama. The recent spread of the novel coronavirus has been forcing Higa to conduct training outside a gymnasium.

Taking advantage of the slopes associated with the hilly park, Higa daily engages in circuit training that requires a lot of physical burden like rapid jumping, side stepping, back stepping and jumping in addition to light sparring sessions with teammate Ryuto Owan.