Reito Tsutsumi is intent on improving and "levelling up" after stopping Leobardo Quintana on Ring V: Night of the Samurai which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old junior lightweight from Chiba Prefecture in Japan has enjoyed a whirlwind start to his professional career.

In May he turned professional amid the glitz and glamour of The Ring's outdoor show in New York and has learned his trade on the grandest of stages.

In July, he appeared on Ring III which also took place in New York and boxed on the undercard of the mammoth Canelo-Crawford showdown in September. Although the brilliant American stole the headlines by relieving Alvarez of The Ring and undisputed super middleweight titles, Tsutsumi's quick stoppage of Javier Martinez caught plenty of eyes.

Confident that Tsutsumi (4-0, 3 KOs) had grown accustomed to the spotlight and weight of expectation generated by Ring events, matchmakers decided to give him a genuine test and matched him with Mexico's Quintana (12-2, 5 KOs).

Quintana was tough and aggressive but most importantly, ambitious. Tsutsumi eventually broke him down in the fourth round, though needed to work hard in doing so.

It was a small but important test and the way Tsutsumi passed it proved that he hasn't allowed his head to be turned by distractions and attention outside of the ring.

"It was a bit different than what I expected before. I thought he was a more orthodox boxer but the technique was not what I expected so I had to adjust myself to fight against him," he said, via a translator during his post-fight interview.

"When I was preparing for this match, I practiced against a lot of different types of boxers so I could build up my experiences against those different types of boxers. I think that bore some fruit."

Tsutsumi's goal is to box for a world title in his tenth professional fight but the junior lightweight division is a competitive, deep weight class.

On an advanced apprenticeship, he will be given plenty of opportunities to impress and improve but the Quintana fight was a timely reminder just how serious a task he has taken.

Despite his impressive win, Tsutsumi spoke calmly and realistically about his plans for 2026.

"Today was far below what I expected so next year I have to level up my boxing step-by-step and in doing so my ranking will go up and the world will come near to me," he added.