A couple of rounds after work

Jeanne Brady squeegees the sweat off her forehead with her red-wrapped hands. She skips inside the ring, jabbing with a left. Thap, a right, thap. Then thap-thap-thap, wildly swinging at her trainer's mitts.

When a buzzer signals the end of her three-minute round, Brady jumps out of the ring and moves onto the speed bag. Red-cheeked and breathless, she's hungry for more.

"I find it relaxing," says Brady, 50, an engineer who began boxing last spring at the Ring Boxing Club in Boston to get into shape. As the gym echoes with a chorus of thadump-thadump-thadumps coming from other people, she adds, "I may be a minority here, but I'm not intimidated at all. This is fun."

Brady isn't looking for a fight or to become the next "Million Dollar Baby," but she and other Bostonians are putting on their 16-ounce gloves and discovering that boxing is a good match.

Unlike serious boxers who want to carve a career out in the sport, these folks are everyday city types -- accountants and managers, lawyers and teachers -- looking to spar for its grueling workout, not to inflict a KO on each other.

Local gym owners say they've been seeing a steady increase in adult novices joining the sport -- a rise in what's being referred to as "white-collar boxing." At least two gyms in Boston have opened in the past two years to cater to this demographic, and another club in Watertown began hosting exhibitions this year so their freshman boxers can show off what they're made of.

They're friendly fighters who say they've been inspired by movies ("Cinderella Man") and television shows ("The Contender") that celebrate the sport and help make it more mainstream to noncompetitive types. These pugilists say they want a challenge that goes beyond the monotony of lifting weights or treadmills. Boxing gives them the benefits of cardio in a controlled environment where they can blow off steam built up from their day jobs.

"I'm in sales, and you get all pent up during the course of the day, and you come here and let it out," says Brian Banks , 28, just finishing his routine that included a round of shadow boxing, bag punching, and sparring. "If you lift weights, it's boring," Banks adds. "Here, you have something to beat."

John Hazard opened the Ring Boxing Club two years ago to provide an alternative to chain-owned health clubs and to tap into the area's base of white-collar boxers. The sport, which also involves noncompetitive bouts, has cultivated a following over the years in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, England, and Canada as office workers look to their gyms to pack a punch after work.

On the second floor of his gym down from the bustling Paradise nightclub, trainers give new members old-fashioned routines that involve chin-ups, push-ups, jump-roping, footwork, and one-two punch training. Men and women rotate from one bag to another and step inside the ring to the sounds of a buzzer, which goes off every three minutes, as they spar with a trainer or with other members. A banner image of Muhammad Ali overlooks the score of contenders here.

It's not the testosterone-filled macho smackdown of old school boxing gyms from the " Rocky " movies.

"It's friendlier," says Hazard, a former amateur boxer from Providence. "They see other people [boxing] and want to do it and be part of it. Boxing builds muscles from head to toe. Just hitting a bag for three minutes is exhausting."

Julie O'Malley , a Boston Medical Center financial manager, knows that firsthand and finds the training to be refreshing. She began boxing a month ago and now trains five days a week after her workday of overseeing budgets and employees.

"I come in with the headaches of life, and I leave in a different mindset. I forget what I did during the day," says O'Malley, who lives in Medford. "It's addicting. It's a great workout. Boxing has a lot to do with the mind, too. You have to be intelligent to be a boxer."

The mental and physical challenges of the sport are what appealed to John Oden , author of "White Collar Boxing: One Man's Journey From the Office to the Ring." In his book, published in 2005 , the New York money manager details how he picked up the sport at age 40 because it combined a physical and mental workout. He now competes in amateur bouts around the country and in England. "It's a sport that can be performed at any age, without undue risk of harm or injury," he writes in his book. "It takes less work than many sports such as golf, and can be a more efficient way for a busy professional to get a good workout and stay in shape. It's mano a mano in its purest form."

Unlike professional and amateur boxers, these newcomers don't deal with defeat. In exhibitions or in-house tournaments, there is no declared winner or loser. Both participants' hands are raised after three two-minute rounds.

At Boston Boxing & Fitness Club in Watertown, owner Ed LaVache began hosting these kinds of exhibitions this year for his gloved beginners who enjoyed sparring, but felt intimidated stepping into a ring and getting whipped in front of a large crowd. LaVache matches his members according to height and weight to spar in front of friends and family.

"They are not out there in a real bout with thousands of people jeering and booing," says LaVache.

"It's in our gym so they have that comfort level," he says, as his members take turns sparring in the ring on a recent weeknight with members of the Nonantum Boxing Club in Newton. "They are in the ring with someone they are friends with or know. It's as close to a bout as it can be."

One of his friendly fighters is Ben Swartz , a real estate manager from Brighton. He began boxing this year because he remembered how much it boosted his confidence as a youngster in South Boston. He also wanted to get into shape in his post-college life and put his left hook to good use. He admits he's been smacked in the face a few times, but it's all in good fun.

"I worry about breaking my nose," he says, donning his black head gear and red 16-ounce gloves while covered with a sheen of sweat. "You become close to people when you punch each other in the face. You become good buddies."

Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com