Businessmen pack a punch; Liverpool to host white-collar boxing event.

Byline: TINA MILES

LEADING figures from Liverpool's business community will swap their Blackberries for boxing gloves when they compete in the ring.

Contestants face a two-month training regime with some of the region's top coaches as they prepare to battle it out with their business rivals in the North West's white-collar boxing event, Trading Blows.

The cream of the business fraternity will take to the ring at Liverpool's Olympia on November 11.

The Liverpool Daily Post and Echo's children's charity, Liverpool Unites, is the official charity for the event. Fundraisers hope the money raised will be used to help a specific youth programme in combating gun crime.

Rob Ware, organiser of Trading Blows, said: "This promises to be not only the must-see event in the region's boxing calendar, but also a spectacular evening of entertainment, and is the first of its kind on this scale on Merseyside.

"The business community in the North West is renowned for its competitive attitude, and we are hoping this can replicate itself with some explosive bouts in the ring."

Jon Brown, from Liverpool PR agency Paver Smith, is taking part in the event.

He said: "I've never even watched a boxing match from start to finish, so the prospect of going into the ring certainly concentrates the mind in terms of getting reasonably fit. It's a challenge.

"The only real risk of injury is to my pride, and I think I can cope with that. My brother used to beat me up on a regular basis and I've had a few punch-ups on the rugby pitch, so getting a hiding will be nothing new in that sense."

Trading Blows is looking for contestants from businesses in Liverpool and Manchester. * TO REGISTER, visit www.tradingblows.biz/

CAPTION(S):

Jon Brown Martyn Best, from Paver Smith, left, and Robert Ware with Robbie Ribbon