Hilary Fan says that boxing is a lot of hard work but she loves doing it. [Photo by Gao Erqiang/China Daily]

Organized by Black Tie Boxing, a new Suzhou-based outfit that was founded by the Croatian boxer Marko Martinovic, this white-collar boxing event attracted eight women, two ofwhomwere Chinese.

"There has been a huge rise in the popularity of white-collar boxing all around Asia in cities like Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Hon gKong," saysDalia Fernandez, business development manager of Black Tie Boxing. "In the past few five years white-collar boxing has become a $30 million industry.

"Women are now beginning to discover that boxing is one of the bestways to get into shape, and you can see howcommitted they are. Women usually don'tmiss training sessions, and they really give it their all."

Boxing is an intensive cardiovascular activity that is great for losing weight Golden Gloves Gym reckons members can burn up to 1,000 calories an hour and is good for conditioning muscles, but in addition to thatwomenare signing up to compete in white-collar fights as a way of testing their mental limits.

Putting those strengths to the test ultimately comes with the decision to step out of the gym and into the ring, where trainees earn their chops as boxers, and where blood may well be spilled.

"Voluntarily fighting requires the ability to overcome the fear of being punched in the face," Benis says, quickly adding that white-collar boxing is not as dangerous as it may look.

"Common injuries include bleeding noses, sprained wrists and the occasional bruised ribs. But compared with soccer or basketball - list the number of people you know who have torn their ligaments or broken their ankles - the injury rates for boxing pale in comparison."