White collar workers will meet in a boxing ring to settle a grudge between two businessmen in their 60s.

Organisers hope the unlicensed fight in Brighton will be the start of a craze which has already taken America by storm.

New York executives spend months training under the guidance of professionals to go head-to-head in "white collar" boxing.

News of the bout in Brighton, planned for October, has sparked anger from concerned medics.

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC), the regulatory body for professional boxing, has also spoken of its concerns about the craze.

The tournament has been organised by the Real Fight Club, which takes its name from Fight Club, the cult film starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as businessmen who set up an unlicensed club for men to vent their spleen in violent bouts against other members.

There are already 600 members of the Real Fight Club in London.

The Brighton fight, billed Brighton Rocks, was set up by a Brighton-based businessman and a London-based businessman who are in their 60s and wanted to settle a grudge. The Real Fight Club organisers said they were too old to fight so two younger men are doing it on their behalf.

Dax "The Bodysnatcher" Price, 34, from Sheffield Park, will fight for Brighton. He runs a luxury hotel booking services company in Brighton for top footballers.

He said: "I enjoy the training and it is good to keep myself fit.

"People are evenly matched and everything is controlled properly."

Adrian King, promoter of the Real Fight Club said: "It is all done in a very gentlemanly manner and we follow the Queensbury Rules. Our name gives the impression that it is bare knuckle fighting but nothing could be further from the truth."

The main difference between white-collar boxing and other forms of the sport is that no winners are declared at the end of the bout.

Mr King said he was confident about his club's safety procedures and said it was regulated by the International White Collar Boxing Association and safety is paramount.

But Lewes GP Adam Henry is unimpressed.

He said: "Boxing is a dangerous sport however you dress it up. People can be seriously hurt and even killed. It is just not safe."

About ten fights are planned for the night in Brighton. It takes place on October 22 at the Hilton Metropole.

Proceeds will go to the Rockinghorse Appeal, which supports the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in Brighton.

For more details, go to www.therealfightclub.co.uk or call 07092 390390.