White Collar Boxers Duke it Out
Old Time Boxers Teach Financiers Tricks of Their Trade
As the stress winds tighter, bankers, hedge fund managers and other toilers in the financial canyons are taking up boxing to relieve stress and get into shape. "There's as much chance of meeting a CEO in the boxing ring as on the golf course," says Peter DePasquale, author of "The Boxer's Workout". He told Dorene Internicola of Reuters on June 8 of this year that it is good for "cardio, strength, multiple arms and legs together, and hitting something for stress relief." However, instead of wearing their wounds as so many badges of honor, many white collar boxers worry about their facial injuries bothering the boss or clients. Not to worry, says Nerd of Steel on nerdcoreboxing.com, most people are unobservant and won't notice.
Time was when boxing seemed to have been dealt a knockout punch by detractors who said it wasn't safe. It could not be right, so thinking went, to have your head pounded numerous times. The sport went into hiatus.
Old Style Gyms
Now it's back with a bang and one cannot help but wonder if it's not just because executives want to get fit. It's more likely that they need to punch someone's lights out. Whatever the cause for the resurrection of the sport, it's benefiting many old style gyms which are now being seen as gritty and authentic and, well, macho. One interesting thing seems to be that one can now train to be a white collar boxer at any age instead of having to be young.
White Collar Boxing Even Benefits Charity
White Collar Boxing even benefits charity. Belfast's whitecollarboxing.ie says on its website, "Anyone who competes or participates in our programmes will feel enhanced both mentally and physically and will be equipped to meet the challenges of life head on." Their big upcoming event is November's "Battle of Belfast."
Actually, although Bob Jackson, 72, of Brooklyn's Gleason's Gym is credited with starting white collar boxing 30 years ago, the World White Collar Boxing Association (wwcba.org) is headquartered in London. It says there are more than 4,000 members of the sport worldwide and that it plans to set up "white collar boxing rankings to provide an opportunity for regular participants to judge their progress against peers in their weight class.This will provide an opportunity for the WWCBA to sanction both regional and championship bouts." In April, the largest white collar boxing event was held in Hong Kong.
What does all this mean? Well, one could find oneself sipping champagne at a charity event while watching a white shoe lawyer duke it out with the broker who lost his investments.
Women Have Much Better Attitudes
Women are not excluded from this new take on an old sport. (It used to be called the 'sweet science.') Bruce Silverglade owner of Gleason's says, "Women have much better attitudes than men. Women say 'teach me.' Guys are macho and think they already know how to fight." Gleason's is where Robert de Niro trained for Raging Bull and Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby.
So is this new fashion for boxing benefiting the old gyms financially? Nobody's giving out any figures but it's certainly giving jobs to old boxers who were low on cash. The question is are they getting financial tips in exchange?
Bankers Learn to Box Like This
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