Ring and undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue features among a stacked class of world champions from the talent-rich Asian country.

Below that level are multiple rising fighters including bantamweight contender Yuta Sakai, who has grabbed some attention.

The 23-year-old faces the biggest step of his fledgling career against 83-fight veteran Tasana Salapat at Japan's Korakuen Hall on October 29. The pair will box over eight rounds on a card topped by Sakai's stablemate Raito Kataoka (2-0, 2 KOs) facing longtime contender ArAr Andales (19-2-3) in a junior flyweight clash.

"It will be a good experience for me, but I also want to focus on winning," Sakai (8-0, 7 KOs) told The Ring. "He is the strongest opponent I have faced so far, I will gain a lot with a win because he's in the world rankings.

"I'm going to dominate the fight. He's a strong boxer, but I also want to prove my strengths."

While Sakai can't match Salapat for professional experience, he will aim to offset that with youth and his own tools.

A reservoir of amateur credentials aid him in this case, having boxed from a young age and not without his own experiences.

"I was six years old, watched a boxing anime and went to the boxing gym in Osaka," he said.

"There, I started training with my father. In my junior high years, I trained at the high school where there was a boxing club and started fighting as an amateur."

During these days, he would learn a valuable life lesson before reaching new heights.

"After I won the all-Japan title, I wasn't focused. After I lost, I fought this person four times and won all the time."

He would later win gold at the world youth championships in 2022 and after going 48-1 in the unpaid code, decided to turn pro after an offer came to join Ohashi Promotions.

Surrounded by world class talent working out of the Ohashi Gym, Sakai feels he has improved in every area.

He hopes next year to take the next step and as time passes, could well show he more than belongs in the same company as the Inoue brothers.

"Right now, I want to focus on Salapat but am looking at all those fighters in my weight division," he said. "Takuma [Inoue] is from the same gym so that may not happen but there is a greater chance I might have to fight the other champions, so I am watching them."

"That's where it starts, becoming world champion is the first step. Then everything that comes after that, including unifications."

Salapat, also known as Petch CP Freshmart, turned professional back in 2011.

The 32-year-old puncher built his record to 48-0, collecting various WBC regional titles until dropping a wide 12-round points loss to Takuma Inoue for WBC interim honors in December 2018.

After winning 28 consecutive fights, he earned a second title tilt but suffered a sixth-round stoppage defeat by Junto Nakatani in October 2024. Since then, he has won five bouts on home soil to land this opportunity.

This represents a significant step up on paper for an ascendant Sakai given Salapat's experience. In reality, the veteran appears a good scalp at this stage of their respective careers.

Salapat took Takuma the distance and Nakatani six rounds, so he should provide the youngster with some resistance as the opposition levels increase. Sakai's performance should tell us where he is and how quickly his handlers should move him in a talent-rich class at 118 pounds.