 East turned professional in 1989 and won the WBA World Light Welterweight Championship by defeating Akinobu Hiranaka with an 11th round TKO victory in Tokyo on 9 September 1992.With the victory, East became the youngest ever Filipino to hold a world championship in boxing at the age of 19 years and 31 days old.He is also the second youngest boxer to win a world title at 140 lbs., second to Puerto Rico's Wilfred Benitez, who won the WBA World Jr. Welterweight title when he was 17 years old.