Seconds out for new BBC charity fight

John Pienaar, the heavyweight BBC political correspondent, is the latest celebrity to agree to take part in a televised charity boxing match. As viewers limber up to watch Ricky Gervais, star of The Office, pound Anthea Turner's husband, Grant Bovey, in tonight's much-anticipated bout on BBC2, plans are afoot for four further fights in the New Year.

First up will be the singer-turned-actor Darren Day, and the investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre, an unlikely sparring duo announced by producers earlier this month.

But the BBC revealed yesterday that next into the ring will be Pienaar, one of the corporation's most distinguished broadcasters and, at 6ft 2in, a towering presence in the Westminster lobby. "John has agreed to fight next year, subject to a medical. We are trying to get someone who is not a journalist or a politician but who is his size," said the source.

News of the TV bouts will infuriate the British Board of Boxing Control, which has condemned the Gervais-Bovey fight. Simon Block, its general secretary, has accused the BBC of encouraging unlicensed boxing and blemishing the reputation of a "noble art".