Is it more painful to see the value of your fund disappear as the global economy crumbles, or for another man to punch you as hard as he can in the face?

For Elliot `The Machine Gun` Odell, a 32-year-old Briton working in the hedge fund industry in Hong Kong, the chance to find out was irresistible.

Odell, whose fierce-looking arms are plastered with tattoos normally hidden under his three-piece bespoke suit, was one of a dozen finance workers who recently bashed their way through `Hedge Fund Fight Nite,` a charity boxing match.

After five months of training, he was left in little doubt about how easy it was to escape the whirl of the current market turmoil spooking the world`s financial markets.

`Boxing is pretty much the most stress-relieving thing you can do,` said Odell, in his strong Essex accent.

He was speaking before the annual black-tie dinner, where more than 700 people from the city`s finance industry paid to watch six bouts between the amateur fighters.

Graham `The Real Deal` McNeill, a 35-year-old partner at property sector consultants EC Harris, said the training had provided welcome relief from the volatility that has beset the economy in recent months.

`You put in a hard morning at work and it gives you an hour off,` said the soft-spoken but hard-hitting Scot.

`It is a great way to release some tension. Times are very difficult at the moment and it gives you something else to focus on.`

For Richard `The Lion Heart` Le-Gallez the hard training had even helped deal with the turmoil.

`Everyone knows what is going on at the moment,` said the 30-year-old, who works with high-worth clients for HSBC.

`But I think in any job you do the fitter you are, the healthier you feel. You are up earlier, you go to sleep earlier, you seem really invigorated to get stuck in at work and the other things that you do in life.`

While every fighter insisted he was taking part for a personal challenge and a worthy cause, some in the raucous crowd were less charitable.

`He is going to kill him. We want the other guy dead, we want his family dead, we want his house burned to the ground,` said one spectator, who declined to be named or even say who he was supporting.

The fights were as ferocious as the swings on the market, with two knockouts and several highly-paid financiers thumping against the canvas.

The level of brutality surprised many in the audience.

Jonathan Berney, a partner with McNeill at EC Harris, said he was surprised how his colleague had made the switch.

`It is not exciting, it is frightening actually,` said Berney, after McNeill had knocked out his opponent James `Squeeze` McCaughey, from Macquarie investment bank.

`I think what is really surprising is seeing someone like Graham in the office, a mild-mannered partner going about his job, and then seeing them as animals in the ring.`

After the bout, McNeill said he was pleased to have won, but it was tough fighting someone he had grown close to and in front of drunken money-men baying for blood.

`You are training with these guys. To go in and punch someone in the face that you really like and he is a good mate, that is pretty tough for anyone,` he said, despite his fearsome win.

`Getting over that mentally is one reason I may (stop). Think my boxing career is probably one for one, and I will leave it at that.`

All money raised from the event was to go to Operation Breakthrough, which uses boxing as a tool to help tackle juvenile delinquency in Hong Kong, and Operation Smile, which helps repair childhood facial deformities in the poorest parts of the world, organisers said.