Matsumoto, The Ring's No. 4 strawweight, will be closer to achieving that goal when facing Russell Acosta on Sunday for the WBO interim title at Tokyo's Toyota Arena.

"I am fired up to face Acosta, who holds a 17-0 record," Matsumoto (8-0, 4 KOs) told The Ring. "He's a fantastic fighter who steps forward and boxes with confidence, so I'm grateful for the opportunity to compete in a huge event in Japan."

Matsumoto-Acosta will feature as part of the main card preceding Takuma Inoue's second WBC bantamweight title defense against Tenshin Nasukawa in a rematch of their November 24 bout in the same venue.

The 28-year-old southpaw turned professional at 24 after a distinguished amateur career, where he won highly-acclaimed domestic honors. He believes that foundation has served him well since making the transition.

He scored a seventh-round stoppage of Katsuki Mori to claim national honors in his fourth appearance. Another finish in his first defense prompted a move into international level opposition, while working towards world title contention.

An unexpected two-fight series with grizzled veteran and compatriot Yuni Takada provided him with seasoning at a higher level over the past year. In doing so, he won and later vacated the WBA's secondary title at 105 pounds.

He led 50-46 and 50-45 twice before an accidental headbutt left Takada bloodied and unable to continue their first meeting last September. Six months later, he pitched a shutout while completing his first 12-rounder.

Now, Matsumoto must do his part first before waiting to see what's next for Ring and unified WBA, WBO titleholder Oscar Collazo.

Collazo was set to vacate his strawweight titles, moving up two weight divisions to challenge WBA/WBC titleholder Ricardo Sandoval on October 10 before The Ring's No. 10 pound-for-pound fighter injured his rib.

Nonetheless, Matsumoto believes his moment is coming.

"I believe that becoming the champion will open up various new paths for me," he said.

Acosta (17-0, 6 KOs), The Ring's No. 10 strawweight, made his professional debut in March 2020.

The 27-year-old from Merida, Mexico has fought exclusively at home but hasn't yet boxed anyone of note. This marks his third fight of the year and a career-toughest assignment.