WORK THE BODY—Thousand Oaks resident Zak Kaplan, 13, right, goes to work on Simi Valley’s Vincent Santillano, 13, during a U.S. Amateur Boxing match last Saturday at the RollerDome. THERON TAN/Special to the Acorn The Rib Breaker was busy busting someone’s nose.

Thirteen-year-old Zak Kaplan of Thousand Oaks, nicknamed the Rib Breaker, made his amateur boxing debut last Saturday night at the RollerDome in T.O.

Competing in the fourth bout of a 12-fight card put on by T.O. Boxing and United States Amateur Boxing Inc., Kaplan earned a firstround referee stoppage over Vincent Santillano of Simi Valley.

By blitzing Santillano with a furious barrage of body shots and head bangers, the 142-pound Kaplan drew blood from his opponent’s nose before the referee stepped in and put an end to the action just as the first-round bell rang.

“It went as good as it could have gone,” said Kaplan, a seventh grader at Los Cerritos Middle School.

“The thing is, I’m used to sparring against older guys, so when I got in the ring, it was easier than I thought. It wasn’t that (Santillano) did a bad job or anything. I’m just used to bigger guys.”

Kaplan, who plays the tenor saxophone in his school’s band, has trained at T.O. Boxing for less than a year. A talented football player with the Westlake Braves, Kaplan took to the sweet science as a way of staying in shape and learning more about a sport he admires so much on television.

“He has a love for the sport, just like I did at his age,” said Martin Gillitt, who owns T.O. Boxing and coaches many of its fighters.

“When I was learning to box, I was the first one in the gym and the last one to leave. Zak, he’s the exact same way—first guy in and the last guy out.”

Shawn “Spider” Walker, who has spent several months training Kaplan, said he was thrilled with his boxer’s composure in front of the local crowd.

“He did great,” Walker said. “He was cool as a cucumber, and he looked beautiful.

“All the things we worked on in the gym, he did them. Working behind the jab, throwing a one-eight combo that landed, beautiful hooks and moving his head, I am so proud of him.”

In other bouts with area connections, Camarillo resident Walter Weatherford lost a threeround decision to David Lomeli.

All fights were three rounds with Olympic-style scoring.

Weatherford, competing at 215 pounds, was battered by Lomeli in the opening round but was able to hold his ground and go the distance in a back-andforth battle of big men.

“I was tired by the second round,” the 28-year-old said. “I felt like I was counter-punching well, but he was pressing the action. I was countering off his jab, and he was hitting my shoulder a lot. I probably should have been more aggressive.”

Weatherford, who also competes in mixed martial arts events, moved to 3-3 as an amateur boxer.

In a match that saw both fighters land a slew of wicked punches, Oxnard High 14-yearold freshman Homer Lopez lost a tough three-round decision to Damien Lopez of Burbank.

Hueneme High freshman Hilario Guerrero, a native of Oxnard, lost to Emil Hovhannisyan by virtue of a decision.

Oxnard’s Benito Mendoza, meanwhile, defeated Ryan Franco in a slugfest that went to the judges’ scorecards.

Other winners on the night were Guillermo Corona, Gerald Washington, Ernesto Alonso, Kaven Simonyan, Smbat Bagdassarian, Shea Sanna and Ferdinand Kerobyan.

Kerobyan, 12, thoroughly dominated his bout en route to earning the night’s Best Boxer award.