Prospect watch - Dylan Capetillo

Keep your eyes on Las Vegas fighter Dylan Capetillo. Ranked  #2 in the United States, he has his eyes on the big prize - a gold medal as the country’s #1 fighter for his weight. And then one day, on to the pros.  

Tucked away in a strip mall off Tropicana Avenue in Las Vegas sits Capetillo Boxing, the home to dozens of neighborhood kids who flock to the gym after school each day. The gym is run by the Capetillo family, 3 of 4 sons, (the 4th is stationed in Texas serving in the military) along with Mom and Dad. The gym is also the home away from home for one of the country’s top-rated fighters, who just happens to be one of their sons - Dylan Capetillo. 

The 5’4-inch boxer weighs in at about 95 pounds these days as he hasn’t hit his late teens growth spurt, common among the Capetillo brothers. Dylan said he has been boxing, “since I was a little boy, like age 3 or so I, was in the gym. But I started competing at about age 8”. 

Now age 14, Capetillo has started to turn some heads on bigger amateur stages with some significant wins on the national scene and currently sports 52 wins in 60 amateur bouts. Scooping up his 3rd WBC amateur title last summer in Vegas, he picked up his biggest win last December in Lubbock, Texas. He collected a silver in the USA’s national tournament and the win slotted Capetillo into the # 2 ranking in the country. 

While that is a huge victory, it wasn’t the goal the young boxer had in mind, and it only added fuel to an already disciplined and exceptional work ethic. It also revealed the qualities that might separate Dylan from other boxers his age who might have been content with 2nd place. 

“I was bummed out”, he said. “I trained hard to go there and win the whole thing, so I was upset when I came up short. That isn’t what I was preparing for”. 

Asked to describe his son’s style, father Jorge, sitting close by during the interview, said that a boxer must be trained for all styles he will face in the ring. 

“I guess I would say he is a boxer-puncher”, said the elder Capetillo, himself a former boxer. “We always have trained for every style, every distance”, he said. “Long range, middle, close. We always want to be ready for any style that we are facing. If we are with a guy who wants to slug, we can box. If we have a guy trying to box, we can counter that also”. 

Jorge is also very proud of the Capetillo Gym’s amateur team, who recently took home 4 medals at the Las Vegas Title Invitational tournament. However, his # 1 fighter has some bigger fights on his mind. 

“We are looking at a tournament in California in September, then I think possibly Arizona in October”, said Dylan. “But the big one is the national tournament every December. That is in Louisiana next December”, he said. “That is the big one”. 

Dylan Capetillo already leads the life of a full-time fighter. He does homeschooling to accommodate his morning runs and later-day gym workouts. (*As he does with his conditioning, he takes his studies seriously and does very well in school). He is a polite and approachable young man that has a maturity about him that belies his age. Something tells me I won’t be surprised if he is indeed rated as the best fighter in the country for his weight class after the next national tournament.

And one day when he turns professional, something he hopes to do in his late teens, he’ll have his sights set on a world title. 

Father and trainer Jorge, himself an in-demand cut man and trainer for many elite professionals, said of his son, “I think he was born for this. He works very hard; he is disciplined, and he wants to do the best he can in every fight. Dylan’s character and personality are just attached to boxing. He loves the sport of boxing”.