Our Staff

Brant Thomas - Head Trainer

Brant has been with us at Blacksburg Boxing and Fitness for 5 years and has helped hundreds of clients reach both their health/fitness, and boxing goals! After graduating from VT in 2016 with a degree in Nutrition and Exercise, Brant joined the team here at BBF. To go alongside his degree, he is also certified as a personal trainer (NSCA CPT), certified strength and conditioning specialist (NSCA CSCS) and has a USA Boxing coaches certification. Brant is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and has experience in MMA, wrestling and Muay Thai. During his time at BBF, he has worked with individuals of all ages and skill levels, with different boxing and fitness goals. If you are looking for someone to work individually with you on your boxing technique, or if you want someone that can help you reach your health and fitness goals and get you in the best shape of your life, Brant is an excellent trainer for you!

Call or text Brant at 571-765-0560 or shoot him an email at BrantBBoxing@gmail.com to set up your first session!

Nick Cataldo, M.S., CSCS

Nick is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He earned a Master’s of Science in Applied Kinesiology and Physiology from the University of Florida. He grew up in south Florida where he played football and wrestled in High School. Nick also fought in amateur and collegiate boxing for the United States Air Force Academy from 2008-2011. He just finished up a 10 year career in the Air Force and recently moved to the area to raise his family in the beautiful Virginia mountains.

I developed a passion early on in my life for physical training and my time in the military served to sharpen that passion. The benefits I’ve gained from a life long pursuit of training have made a world of difference for me and my family and I hope to help develop that same passion in others so that they may reap the benefits in their own lives for years to come. Let’s get to work! 

Call or text Nick at 334-322-9479 or shoot him an email at nicholascataldo@att.net to set up your first session!

DeAngelo Smith

I enjoy motivating people to push themselves to be the best they possibly can. With my combined experiences in wrestling, track & field, football, boxing, kickboxing, middle school coaching, as well as Upward coaching, I have a wide base of training techniques to fit any desired goal. Having earned my personal trainer certification through the ISSA, I am happy to say I am properly equipped to help anyone reach their fitness goals. Whether you are an average hard-working person like me, a young athlete looking to get an edge, or an ultimate competitor looking to stay above the competition, I am here to help you be better than your best!

Call or text DeAngelo at 540-449-6488 or send him an email at dsth18@gmail.com to set up your first session!

Jimmy Ivory

Jimmy Ivory is one of our awesome volunteer Coaches that we are so blessed to have here at Blacksburg Boxing! Ivory enjoyed in his words, “An uneventful, but modestly successful, novice amateur boxing career in the 1990s, with a 5-1 record in USA-ABF/USA Boxing sanctioned bouts.” Put humbly, he also won the Junior Olympic State Championships in his home state of Wyoming, and has retained an interest in the sport of boxing ever since. Jimmy still enjoys hopping in the ring with our younger boxers at the gym, and is able to work well with boxers of all experience and skill levels to work up, or tone it down, to make sure that each session is a positive learning experience for all. Jimmy is an extremely valuable asset to us here at Blacksburg Boxing as he can always be found volunteering his time for the betterment of our young boxers to succeed both in and out of the ring. We are extremely grateful to have him here as a Volunteer Coach where since joining us as a member back in 2016, he has been lending a helping hand at every turn to the success of our boxers and the gym as a whole. 

Call or text Coach Jimmy at 540-808-9989 to set up your first session!

Craig Hauser

While living in NY, he started his combat/defensive
skills in 1972 with Kenpo Karate. This included earning several belts and participating in point spar competitions. In the late 1970’s Craig built a private gym in his NY home which included a large area for sparring, heavy bags, double end bags, speed bags, etc. Local martial artists and boxers frequented his gym, but mainly boxers. Here is where he learned his boxing skills training with several amateur and professional boxers which started in the late 1970’s and extended through the 1980’s. Sparring was performed on a daily basis in the gym (ouch!). In the mid 1980’s Craig trained and coached an amateur/professional featherweight boxer, Billy Hackmer. As an amateur Billy had 130 fights with only two “disputed” losses. We should also mention that Superfoot Bill Wallace, previous undefeated Middleweight Kickboxing Champion and legend is a good friend of Craig’s. Now that Craig has reached retirement his time is happily devoted to passing along the skills he has learned over the years to others!

Call or text Coach Craig at 540-239-0303 to set up your first session!

Coach Konstantin

Coach Konstantin is a volunteer Coach who has been helping at the gym here for several years now. He leads our Fundamentals of Competitive Boxing class and even when it isn’t class time, he is always helping out our younger boxers get ready for the ring. Before coming to America, Konstantin had many amateur fights and is happy to share his experience and drills with our current members!