Boxing brutality in business world

Andrew Sturrock regularly arrives at high-powered business meetings with a black eye or split lip.

And last night the Cape Town shipping company head was among eight "white-collar boxers" who fought on the undercard of an official tournament in front of 350 spectators.

Marking a new trend for Fight Club-style sport for South African businessmen, four of the 10 bouts at the event in up-market Camps Bay were between ordinary Joes with nothing to gain except a pummeling from colleagues.

The six professional bouts following the amateurs - some of them middle aged - featured a featherweight contest between pros Raymond Bloem and the much more experienced Nkosana Sobethu.

Boss Models executive Brett Whitehead said he had taken savage blows from his friend Sturrock, "who is normally such a polite businessman".

Whitehead said: "Training for a fight, I come in to work each morning bleeding from my mouth, or with the skin off my knuckles; I had two black eyes once - it's awesome. It's so satisfying to know that you can take a punch."

At last night's tournament the suit set could only win with a knockout, but Whitehead said "the real win for us is the fitness, the respect, and what you learn about yourself".

The historic Rotunda arena was chosen as the venue to help popularise the sport among the rich.

Sturrock, 42, said he had taken up boxing in the gym two years ago to shed some weight, and said it was "the best way to get fit, and way better than golf".

One of last night's pugilists, attorney Stephan Ruebben, 33, said the bouts were "nothing like" the film Fight Club.

"That was wild stuff - what we're doing is boxing, which is very technical, controlled and basically safe," he said.