It's seemingly rinse and repeat for knockout artist Naoya Inoue every time he's stepped inside the ring.

But over his last five fights — all of them wins — there’s been a mixed bag of results for the undisputed junior featherweight champion and perennial pound-for-pound king.

Inoue has been dropped twice, shockingly, in early rounds against Luis Nery and Ramon Cardenas with over-the-top counter shots, only to come back and stop them. Inoue has also lost more rounds on the cards than in years past, and he heard the final bell for just the fourth time in his 13-year career last time out in September against Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

On Saturday, Inoue (31-0, 27 KOs) will defend his 122-pound crown against David Picasso in Saudi Arabia while headlining "The Ring V: Night of the Samurai" show on DAZN PPV.

Inoue has promised a return to his relentless ways.

"I'm determined to show a truly top-class fight," Inoue said on DAZN's "On The Ground" series.

"This time I'll be overwhelming, truly demonstrating my strength. In my last fight, I devised a strategy to secure a victory by decision as part of the plan. This time, it's really about showcasing the difference in power — just want to show my strength. It's about carefully selecting within myself how I'll box against Picasso. I believe I'll manage to do that.

"One thing is, there's that height difference of about three inches. Of course the youthfulness of him being 25, vigor too. Picasso's motivation isn't the same as when he fights other fighters. He comes out to take everything. So compared to past fighters he comes at you about 1.5 times, or even double the strength. That's what I'm most wary of."

Picasso (32-0-1, 17 KOs) is a still-green and largely unproven Mexican contender competing in his first world title contest. He is coming off a lackluster majority decision win against Kyonosuke Kameda in July. The best victory of Picasso's career came last year against Azat Hovhannisyan, a former Inoue sparring partner and title challenger.

Inoue's father and trainer, Shingo, shared how he envisions his son executing the gameplan to get past Picasso in order to secure the spring showdown against Junto Nakatani.

"It's all about concentration," said Shingo. "When Naoya is fully focused, he can make split-second decisions on the spot more quickly. You just can't afford to let your guard down at all. I feel that more within him now, than in the past. Where he is able to maintain that concentration.

"Tactically, I want Naoya to maintain his distance. If he stops moving and just pushes forward aggressively, Picasso is such a combative fighter, I don't want to step onto his turf, where he'll just smash it right back at him. So, I'll keep pushing Naoya to keep his distance.

"Hit and move away, landing punches while dodging his. Repeat that, wear him down bit by bit, and inflict damage. I imagine us gradually breaking Picasso down, bit by bit, while maintaining solid fundamentals. But if Naoya starts looking for the knockout from the very beginning, he tends to tense up and can't fight naturally, as he normally would. So he needs to stay cool, taking it one punch at a time. That's how we'll break him down."