By Jake Donovan

Pedro Guevara sacrificed through the holiday season to achieve his dream of winning a major title. The pain of being separated from loved ones through Christmas and New Year’s were compensated in the form of a career-best win, as Guevara stopped former two-division champ Akira Yaegashi in seven rounds to capture a vacant 108 lb. title Tuesday evening in Tokyo, Japan.

The title winning effort comes on his second try, having previously fallen short to John Riel Casimero more than two years ago in his own hometown of Mazatlan, Mexico.

This time around, Guevara left nothing to chance. Fighting outside of Mexico for the first time in his career, the rangy contender put together a complete performance in ultimately breaking down Yaegashi (20-5, 10KOs) a former World flyweight champion and strawweight titlist in pursuit of a third major championship.

Guevara emphatically denied the veteran such dream, instead knocking him forever out of the title picture. Despite the win coming thousands of miles away from home and in his opponent’s backyard, the 25-year old boxer still felt the support of his nation every step of the way.

"It is an honor for me to have achieved this victory,” Guevara (24-1-1, 16KOs) said after the win. “to have the power to claim the WBC flyweight world championship, I dedicate (the moment) to all of Mexico and particularly (the people of) my hometown in Mazatlan, Sinaloa.”

The first title defense for Guevara will likely come sometime in the first quarter of 2015, to take place in Mexico. Ganigan Lopez is currently the highest rated contender according to the latest edition of the World Boxing Council (WBC) rankings, although no indication was made whether Guevara will be required to honor any appointed mandatory challenge or if he will be granted a voluntary defense.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board, Yahoo Boxing Ratings Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox