A Nanaimo youth’s martial arts training gave him the upper hand against a would-be robber who tried to heist the boy’s cellphone.

Jordan Sunnus, 16, was jogging along Seventh Street Sunday at 9: 30 p.m., when he stopped for a moment to select a new playlist on his iPhone.

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He heard a voice from behind him, complimenting him on his cellphone.

“Some guy said ‘nice phone,’” Jordan said. “He pushed me to the ground.” The man struck him in the face.

Jordan has a black belt in karate, but he doesn’t flaunt it.

His reaction was automatic. “I hit him four times and then I threw him to the ground with a hip toss, and I hit him again in the face.”

He left his attacker, then went to the Nanaimo RCMP detachment to report the incident.

“He was just kind of lying on the ground,” he said.

Nanaimo RCMP have no suspects in the attack.

The victim, a Cedar Secondary student, is trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts.

He delivered five blows to his attacker but he’s comfortable he used an appropriate amount of force.

“There is the possibility he had a knife and if I let off a little, he could have used it on me,” Jordan said. “If you hit him once, what if he had a gun?”

He’s not the type of person to go looking for a fight.

“He’s very mild-mannered,” said his trainer, sensei Kurt Nordli, who heard about the incident the next day, from Jordan.

“I was both proud and worried, and also sad someone had to defend themselves. It’s never a good thing.”

It was a case where all the boy’s hard work paid off.

“It’s like preparing for an earthquake - it’s good to be prepared but you hope it never happens.”

The attacker is described as white, six foot two and wearing a black hoodie, which obscured his face. He had on white shoes and blue jeans.