I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from my first amateur boxing tournament at Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, North London on a late June weekend. 

Blood on the canvas absolutely; a bit of gore, possibly; knock outs, certainly.

As for the women participants I expected lots, mainly because interest in the sport has rocketed since the IOC's decision, last August, to make women's boxing a full medal sport in 2012.

Previously a demonstration event - at St Louis in 1904 - women's boxing was then removed from the Olympic agenda and hasn't been seen since.

Until now.

In the months that followed the IOC announcement the number of female boxers registered to fight in England rose 26 per cent to more than 850.

I can't say hundreds were on show at Ally Pally, for the last day of the 2010 Haringey PC Amateur Box Cup, but there were a fair number.

In fact of the 57 bouts making up the final day of the event, eight bouts were all women affairs.

Launched in 2008 the Box Cup is a festival of boxing, open to men and women of all standards, from novice to open class, from the UK and Europe. 

In 2008, 168 boxers took part making it the biggest open boxing tournament in the UK. This year numbers topped 400.

The event is the work, in no small part, of Gerry Willmott, a serving Met officer who founded Haringey Police Community Amateur Boxing Club a decade ago.

"It started as a diversion project to get kids off the street," he says. 

Now it's one of the most successful of all Police Community Boxing Clubs of Great Britain (PCCGB) with 30 boxers registered to fight and another 30 or 40 using the gym in Tottenham High Road to train.

Meanwhile Willmott and treasurer Ken Marsh (pictured), also a Met Officer, both received MBEs earlier this year in recognition of their work.

One of those to benefit from Willmott and Marsh's tireless efforts, is 23-year-old Hannah Beharry, who took to ring B - one of four rings set up in the Palace's Great Hall - for Bout 8 against Michelle Grizzie of Moss Side Fire Station.

Born in Acton, Beharry, a London 2012 hopeful, fights at flyweight (48-51kg), the lightest of the three Olympic weights.

The other two are lightweight (56- 60kg) and middleweight (69- 75kg).

Over four rounds of two minutes each, with one minute to recover, Beharry went toe to toe with Grizzie and, in some cases, punch to punch, before being announced, unanimously, the winner.

Across in the opposite ring - C - all eyes were on Ireland's Katie Taylor, also 23, a double world and triple European champion in the 60kg category, and already a serious gold medal contender for 2012, as she took on the impressive Ingrid Egner from Oslo, Norway.

Here the punches seemed harder, and more audible, as Taylor's right hand thudded into Egner's protective head gear and the Norwegian fought back.

It's a bit like watching a game of chess played out by two agile masters gliding with skill and speed as they dance around the central part of the ring.

Four rounds later the highly regarded Taylor gets the decision but it's closer than expected with a majority, rather than unanimous, verdict.

Taylor, who's father Peter, a former Ireland senior light heavyweight champion, coaches her  is a formidable athlete. Not only does she box, she's also played football for Ireland more than 40 times.

It'll be athletes like Taylor, and Beharry,  who help portray women's boxing in a new, more accessible light in the months, and years, to come. And for those wondering whether to take up the sport women, apparently, make great students.

"Girls are willing to learn a lot better than men," says Gerry Willmott.  "Most men think they are Sugar Ray Leonard when they start.  Women are much easier to teach."

With the closing bouts of this year's Box Cup still underway, I leave North London more enlightened about women's boxing as a sport, not a spectacle, than when I arrived.

There are, without doubt, those who are against it.  But seen first-hand, it's fast, athletic, entertaining and skilful.

And not a drop of blood anywhere in sight.

Cathy Wood was editor of the Daily Mail Ski Magazine before moving to become ski correspondent on the Daily Mail. She later became travel editor before going freelance. She represented Great Britain at elite level triathlon and writes on travel, skiing and sport.