White-collars, black eyes

Photo by Fan Zhen / China Daily

White Collar Boxing has only recently arrived in Beijing since it started in the United States. The competition has been staged annually since 2008.

It essentially takes non-boxers - mostly white-collar professionals - and gives them the chance to punch each other for a cause.

The matches benefit a Shanghai nonprofit called Leo's Foundation, founded by Scott and Cecile Spirit, organizer and co-founder Shane Benis says.

"They had premature babies in 2008," he explains. "They were cared for in Fudan University's Children Hospital's neo-intensive care unit, and they caught wind that some families couldn't afford the healthcare. So they started a foundation to help pay for the care of premature babies."

White Collar Boxing has donated more than $200,000 to the charity, also known as the Foundation for Newborns with Respiratory Failure, its website says. Benis and WCBC are now working to found a similar foundation in Beijing.

While the events are bilingual, the proportion of local fighters is in the single digits. But many overseas Chinese participate.