Daigo Higa might be winless in his last two fights, but that hasn't seen opportunities for marquee matchups dry up across the bantamweight division.

The Japanese contender, ranked No. 5 by The Ring, narrowly lost a 12-round decision to WBO bantamweight boss Yoshiki Takei last September before a rare unanimous decision draw after an absorbing WBA title matchup with Seiya Tsutsumi on Feb. 24.

Higa (21-3-2, 19 KOs) will hope to make it third time lucky when facing newly-upgraded WBA titleholder Antonio Vargas as part of a stacked championship bill headlined by Kenshiro Teraji from Yokohama, Japan set to be streamed live on DAZN tomorrow morning.

"I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to fight three times in a row [for world titles], even after a loss," Higa told The Ring through his promoter Yusuke Ninomiya.

"I believe I must become a champion in order to move to the next stage. Winning the title will open the door to unification bouts and other exciting opportunities, so I’m determined to win this one and will absolutely become a world champion."

To do so, the 29-year-old must get past Vargas, who was elevated from interim titleholder to full champion after Tsutsumi was unable to defend his title with health issues and subsequently named champion in recess two months ago.

In preparation for the American, Higa headed to Chiba to run at altitude and then back to Tokyo for sparring, under the watchful eye of his coach Mr. Nogi. The hard-charging Higa, expects the defending champion to come and meet fire with fire in their upcoming contest.

"I think he’s an aggressive fighter," he said. "His strength is his ability to finish the fight quickly once he senses his opponent is hurt. I'll stay focused and stick to my boxing style without letting my guard down."

In recent times, the bantamweight division has been dubbed Japantamweight, in deference to all four sanctioning body belts being held by Japanese fighters and many of the top contenders also hailing from the country.

A quick look at The Ring's ratings best illustrates that. The top 6 fighters are all from Japan and Higa, is very much part of that scene.

He ran Tsutsumi close and couldn't be separated in either of their battles four years apart and naturally wouldn't rule out a trilogy to decide who is the better fighter.

That storyline remains on the backburner for now, having had his eye on last month's unification between WBC ruler Junto Nakatani and now-former IBF titlist Ryosuke Nishida, which the former won after an exciting six-round slugfest.

"Although I couldn’t become a champion [against Tsutsumi], I'm glad I was able to be part of such an exciting and memorable fight," he continued.

"I think both fighters [Nakatani and Nishida] are amazing – they can fight both inside and outside effectively. I am definitely motivated [to fight Nakatani.]"

Before that can be pursued, Higa must first get over his bantamweight hump and wrestle away the WBA title from Texas-born pro Vargas.

Vargas (19-1, 11 KOs) rounds out The Ring's top-10 rankings at bantamweight and was a good amateur who represented America at the Rio Olympics in 2016. After reeling off a ten-fight win streak, he was stunningly upset when Jose Maria Cardenas produced a first-round knockout over him in May 2019.

He has rebounded strongly with another ten-fight winning run since then and will be bullish about leaving Japan having notched an impressive maiden title defence.

The 28-year-old outpointed faded former flyweight titleholder Hernan Marquez over ten rounds, before stoppage wins over streaking fringe contender Jonathan Rodriguez (RTD7) and most recently, Winston Guerrero (TKO10) for the interim crown in December.