Double jab, cross. A simple combination, but when applied with the right footwork and power, it’s one that goes a long way.
That’s what Chris Nanney loves about boxing: its simplicity and its complexity.
“In boxing, even though it’s just hands, it’s special,” Nanney said. “The footwork that goes into it, the head movement, it really is a game of inches.”
Nanney was introduced to boxing at age 16 with prior experience in Brazilian Jiujitsu and Mixed Martial Arts. As much as he enjoyed the other two, boxing came more naturally to him, and his coaches soon had him teaching others.
Now 23, he finds fulfillment in coaching others. Right now, he has about eight students that he coaches on weekday evenings, either in his garage or inside the cafeteria at Central Elementary School in Sugar City. Currently, he’s the only person who offers boxing classes in the Rexburg area.
His style of teaching takes boxing inspiration from his own coach, Ryan Buttars, who Nanney says was “an expert at breaking it down to any level.”
Nanney believes that whether you train to be fit or to compete, anybody can box and benefit from it.
“It’s not, ‘Oh you got knockout power, you’re super athletic,’ it’s really for everyone in my opinion,” Nanney said.
