Just ask Luke Sinclair, an artist and co-ordinator of Sticky Institute, an artist-run space dedicated to independent art publications known as zines. Sinclair met fellow artist Richard Lewer at the VCA in 2000 and it ended in fists flying and a pummelling at the hands of his new friend in front of one the most urbane crowds ever seen at a boxing match.

Lewer’s latest piece in the Basil Sellers Art Prize for sporting works is based on the Preston gym where he is now a trainer. It comprises painted depictions of posters on the gym walls, a collection of mouthguards, and a video of boxers undertaking a life drawing session in Lewer’s studio. His interest in boxing as an art form can be traced back to that three-round fight he organised in  2001 as part of Conical Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Adrift: Nomadic New Zealand Art.

Lewer had moved to Melbourne from New Zealand in 1996 and had found it tough to establish himself in the local art scene. He ultimately decided that a boxing match as a performance art piece might provide an outlet for his frustrations.

“I wanted to put myself in an extreme situation, out of frustration at the art world, the art game,” Lewer said this week of the bout he organised against Sinclair.

For the fight he adopted the name ''Ricky the Rash''. Sinclair elected not to have a name but the announcer introduced him as ''Cool Hand Luke Sinclair''.

“Richard's initial vision was to build a ring and challenge an artist to fight and he asked me,'' Sinclair explains. ''As a performance artist I naturally said yes. He was worried I would try and subvert it, that I wouldn’t take it seriously. I began training straight away. Initially I would struggle to run for five  minutes … eventually I could run 10 kilometres.”

This is where things get hazy between the artists’ recollections.

Sinclair says “Richard had been training for 18 months at a Preston gym with a Commonwealth Games boxing coach who was in his corner on the night. I had a bandmate in my corner.”

Lewer laughs when he hears this. “I hadn’t trained at all before then and, when I did start after Luke agreed to do this, I was just one of many being coached by the trainer.”

''I put on 12 kilograms in the eight weeks leading up to fight,'' Sinclair says, adding: ''I lost it all in eight eight weeks right after the fight. My weight training was lifting tomato cans in the kitchen. I also used a sleeping bag hung from a picture hook in the kitchen as a punching bag. I had only worked on my fitness, and soon realised I didn’t have any fighting technique. He came out and punched me in the nose, which started bleeding. I knew instantly I was out of my depth.”

What did the art crowd make of it?

“I thought most of the people initially treated it as a fun event because the fighters were artists, but I remember after being punched early I could feel the crowd was sensing this was the real thing, that they were witnessing something brutal,'' Sinclair said.

As the video shows, Lewer came out fists swinging and has Sinclair's measure from the opening seconds. The flurry of punches hardly stops as Lewer pounds his opponent mercilessly.

''In my corner after the first round I couldn’t see how I could get back out,'' Sinclair recalls. ''I made myself get out and managed to land a couple of blows, which gave me confidence. But after that he pummelled me. Since then when there have been times in my life that I have faced a difficult situation I flash back to that feeling between rounds, which gives me confidence.”

“After the fight the ringside announcer asked if I’d like to say anything and I said, ‘The best man won tonight, but I’d take him on and I’d win for sure, anytime anywhere’. But secretly I knew that wasn’t the case. Looking back now, I’m really glad I did it, it sounds strange but I have warm memories of it.”

Both artists see each other from time to time and feel a mutual warmth and bond because of the experience.

For Lewer, boxing is now a huge part of his life. He now trains others at the same Preston gym.

“It’s a natural part of my art practice,'' he says. ''I’m in the studio between eight and three, and then the gym from four to seven, five days a week.''

Lewer's boxing work can be seen as a finalist in Basil Sellers Art Prize exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne. A video of the boxing as art belting can be found online at richardlewer.com/work/artwork/90/