And in this corner….

Politicians debate, a lot. Disagreements sometimes become quite personal and public.

But lacing up gloves and slugging it out? In a real ring? You don’t see that very often!

The National Post reports that a sitting Member of Parliament and a sitting Canadian Senator will engage in an Olympic-style, full-fledged, three-round slug fest:

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau and Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau have sparred on Twitter, but on March 31, the two will fight for real in the ring.

The boxing match is part of Fight for the Cure, an annual gala featuring matches between “white-collar” Ottawans such as CTV anchor Terry Marcotte and lobbyist Walter Robinson, who fought last year. All proceeds go toward increasing “survivorship” among cancer patients in the Ottawa region.

The 40-year-old Trudeau is the charismatic son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. At age 37, Brazeau is slightly younger and comes with an intimidating resume:

A former national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Senator Brazeau has a second-degree black belt in karate — and a healthy dislike for Mr. Trudeau.

Trudeau is said to have trained as a boxer in his youth. Having absolutely no idea how this may turn out, I was amused by one commentor’s quip:

John Kohos

So Justin did some training when he was young and has a famous father. Se (sic) he’s ready to take on a second degree black belt who used to be with the Canadian Forces….

Here you go Justin…  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

Compare each contender’s physique, technique and tattoos on this CTV news video coverage. (As reported by sports anchor Terry Marcotte, who has done the event himself.)

Is this sort of pairing a good trend? (Settle that animosity, raise funds for charity.)

Or (if you dislike boxing), is it an unnecessarily violent diversion that simply confirms politics as the circus event of our times?

In the realm of fantasy, who would you match-up, to settle political feuds? And what sport would you use to do it?

Tags: boxing, canada, Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau, Fight for the Cure, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, politics