Masuda, The Ring's No. 9-rated bantamweight, and the unranked Donaire will headline a five-fight Teiken Promotions event at the Yokohama Buntai in Yokohoma, Japan on Saturday.

"I'm honored to have the opportunity to face such a great boxer, and have a lot of respect for Donaire," Masuda (9-1, 8 KOs) told The Ring.

"Once I step into the ring though, I switch my mindset and focus entirely on the fight."

The 28-year-old's only loss came in his fourth fight against current WBA champion Seiya Tsutsumi in a Japanese title fight by hard-fought 10-round unanimous decision in August 2023.

Tsutsumi subsequently went on to become WBA 118-pound champion and himself bite down on his gumshield after being dropped by the power-punching Donaire on December 17.

Masuda is acutely aware of the danger that the former multi-weight champion provides.

"The most important thing is to avoid taking unnecessary shots, and stay fully focused from start to finish in order to win," he said.

Although Masuda is 15 years Donaire's junior, he isn't getting caught up in the visitor growing old.

"I never judge an opponent's ability based on age," he said. "The fact that Donaire performs at a level that defies his age shows the passion he still has for boxing."

Masuda enters this fight in good form and on the back of a breakout year where he won three fights.

He took Kaisei Matsumoto's unbeaten record with a sixth-round finish to defend his Japanese national title last February. A move into the international class saw him blast beyond Michell Banquez in a round before beating Jose Calderon (TD5) as the Mexican couldn't continue following a head clash on November 24.

"Through my past fights, I've come to understand both my strengths and weaknesses," he said. "With that foundation, I believe the training I've built for this fight will lead me to victory."

He knows what a triumph over Donaire would do for his career, but remains tight-lipped over what would follow.

"Winning this fight would give me tremendous confidence," he said. "I do have a specific opponent in mind as my next target, but I'd like to announce that only after winning this fight."

Donaire (43-9, 28 KOs) won world titles at flyweight, bantamweight, junior featherweight and featherweight during a Hall of Fame career. He also holds wins over the likes of Vic Darchinyan (TKO 5), Fernando Montiel (TKO 2) and Toshiaki Nishioka (TKO 9).

He gave Ring and undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue (UD 12) all he could handle during a thrilling fight in November 2019, before being stopped two rounds into their June 2022 rematch.

Since then, he has fallen short in title fights against Alexandro Santiago (UD 12) for the vacant WBC title in July 2023 and the aforementioned Tsutsumi (SD12) three months ago.