OTTAWA - Justin Trudeau will exchange a figurative blood sport for a real one when he steps out of the political arena and into the boxing ring in a few weeks.

The Liberal princeling will face off against Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau in the marquee bout of this year's Fight for the Cure, an annual Ottawa boxing tournament that pits local notables against each other to raise money for cancer research.

Better known for his movie-star good looks than his physical prowess, Trudeau has been training hard for the last six months in hopes he'll surprise a few people when the bell sounds on March 31.

"I'm tougher than people give me credit for," he said after taking as many hits as he dished out in four rounds of sparring at the Final Round Boxing Gym.

He'll need as much toughness as he can muster. His father, long-serving Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau, ensured his son had some boxing lessons. But his 37-year-old opponent is three years his junior, has a black belt in karate and served in the Canadian Forces.

Those stats made Brazeau a three-to-one favourite at online betting site Bodog.com.

The senator stepped up after Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Calgary MP Rob Anders turned down Trudeau's challenge.

Matt Whitteker, the trainer working with both fighters, says they're more evenly matched than it seems.

"Truthfully, there isn't much of a difference," he said. "I think they both have a really good chance to win."

When the starting bell rings, it will be a match-up between two very different fighters. Brazeau is shorter, but the trainers say his stocky frame packs real power. Trudeau is tall and lanky so his advantage will be his reach.

"Justin has a great jab and speed, whereas Brazeau, he's small, stocky and really strong," said Rob Imbault, one of the organizers.

Imbault says the two have already done some verbal sparring.

"They have definitely been chirping each other," he said.

But Brazeau shrugs off the mind games.

"I am more focused on my own training and what I need to do to make a point and make a statement and that's why I am training very hard to do just that."

The fighters' trash-talking skills may be honed from their political fights, but when the gloves go on, those rhetorical skills will be of little use.

The fight will use Olympic rules. Each fighter will be outfitted with headgear, a mouth guard and 10-ounce gloves.

Despite all the media hoopla and politics, neither man has lost sight of the real reason they're fighting. Trudeau's father died of complications related to prostate cancer and Brazeau's mother died of lung cancer.

Ringside seats at the Hampton Convention Centre go for $250 apiece or $3,000 per table. Organizers hope to raise $200,000 this year, which would be a $50,000 increase over last year's take.

Trudeau is focused on putting on a good show whatever the outcome. But even if he winds up flat on his back, he plans to enjoy the fight.

"I've boxed for a long time, but never gotten into the ring for a serious fight," he said. "So this is something for me to check off on my bucket list one way or another."

Related on HuffPost:

Loading Slideshow

• Careless Whisper

  However you look at Canada's 15th prime minister, it's hard not to see Pierre Elliott Trudeau as a politician cut from a very different cloth. While much of his globe-trotting, playboy image was doubtless driven by the media -- Trudeau was actually a workaholic and sleepless intellectual -- the man certainly had his moments. Luckily, the news wasn't delivered quite so relentlessly in 1971 as it is these days - or Trudeau wouldn't have heard the end of it when he told an opposition member to <a href="http://quotes4all.net/pierre elliott trudeau.html">"F-- Off".</a> Well, actually he mouthed it. And although the TV tape clearly captured his salty salute, Trudeau was allowed to tell reporters he had actually said 'Fuddle Duddle'. And that was that.

• That's Pat F--ing Martin, To You

  Outspoken doesn't seem to quite cut it when describing NDP MP Pat Martin. The man speaks out a lot. And every now and then, he brings the thunder. Like last November, when he treated his 1,400 Twitter followers to a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/11/17/pat-martin-twitter-swearing_n_1099126.html">smorgasbord of swearage.</a> "This is a f---ing disgrace... closure again. And on the Budget! There's not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot s---." And the cherry on top? Telling one of his followers, "F-- you."

• What About Bob?

  Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae took a page from Pat Martin's profanity playbook on Wednesday -- <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/12/14/bob-rae-twitter-bs-young-liberals_n_1149155.html?1323898891">and took it to Twitter.</a> A tweet about a feud between liberals Zach Paikin and Max Naylor may have caught him before breakfast. "What bullshit is this?" he tweeted back. Sure, the word likely ceased offending most people decades ago. In fact, we don't even bother covering most of the letters with asterisks. But hey, it does incorporate the s-word - which we still cover with asterisks.

• No Fuddle Duddling Around

  Unlike his father, Justin Trudeau didn't merely mouth the words. In fact, he let them ring out from the rafters at the House of Commons on December 14. 'You piece of sh---' The recipient? Environment Minister Peter Kent. You know, Canada's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/elizabeth-may/canada-kyoto-protocol-withdrawal_b_1145648.html">public face of Kyoto withdrawal.</a> Also unlike his father, young Trudeau probably knew the Fuddle Duddle Defence wouldn't cut it. So within minutes of uttering the words, he owned up to them. "I lost my temper and used language that was most decidedly unparliamentary and for that I unreservedly apologize and withdraw my remark," Trudeau said at the end of question period.

• 15-Year-Old 'Jack Ass'

  <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/10/tony-clement-jackass-twitter_n_1196261.html">Treasury Board President Tony Clement was forced to apologize after calling 15-year-old Keith Pettinger a "Jack ass"</a> in a private Twitter message. Clement sent the message after the teen criticized the spelling in one of the minister's tweets.