The vast ballroom of Cipriani Wall Street was the scene of a different sort of dance last night, with crowds of executives from the financial community drinking $13 cocktails while surrounding an illuminated boxing ring in which combatants circled.

“These guys like to get dressed up,” Tommy Gallagher, 65, a former Golden Gloves champion, boxing trainer, organizer, promoter, and the namesake of Tommy Gallagher Productions, which hosted the Black Tie Boxing event, said. “And they like a knock-out. We’re giving out bonuses if any of the fighters knocks somebody out in the first round.”

Asked how much, Mr. Gallagher, who has a shiny, bald head and wears black sunglasses indoors, paused and said: “We’re not divulging that information.”

Black Tie Boxing has been around in some form since 2002, but last night was the first time it was held a short sprint from the headquarters of the most powerful investment banks and financial institutions in the world.

After dining on baked green taglioni alla Bolognese, the audience members — almost exclusively men except for a handful of elegant dates and a delegation of young women wearing tightly fitting tank tops emblazoned with the logo of Georgi vodka — tucked into rack of lamb, sautéed string beans, and roasted red bliss potatoes. Wine flowed freely, and by the time the fight started, the crowd was shouting each time a slung fist struck flesh.

“I don’t watch a lot of boxing, but to sit up next to the rope and see it this close, that’s amazing,” an entrepreneur, Neil Schroff, said. A friend added: “This is Wall Street, where people compete hard. Boxing is real.”

Closest to the ring were tables packed with heads of divisions of investment banks, real estate developers, and executives. After the beating some of them had been taking in the last couple months, a few said it was a welcome relief to watch someone else get clobbered.

“As soon as I heard about it, I said ‘I’m there,’ because I need a break,” the owner of IMC Mortgage, Paul Cartulano, said.

Each guest at a table received a small bag from the high-end boutique, Pink, but the gift of collar stays, the small plastic strips used to keep collars straight, was not warmly received. Standing in the shade away from the lights and booming music, a boxing trainer, Brian Burke, said the high ceilings and fancy dress reminded him of earlier, gilded times.

“It reminds me of the old days, when we used to take fighters overseas,” Mr. Burke said. “They’d have ballrooms with a symphony, and a comic would come on between bouts.”

Tickets for a spot at a table went for $300, which included dinner, and general admission was about $100. Along the walls were tables with memorabilia from sports and films that were part of a silent auction to raise money for the charity, Give a Kid a Dream.

James Ray, who works for the automotive company Delphi, said he came out after meeting with some investment bankers earlier in the day.

“They told me to come out,” he said. “The business community loves boxing. It’s no-holds barred, winner takes all. It’s individual. There’s no team aspect. Just like in business: You can’t win without a proposition, a good one.”