The accessories were particularly tough: leather cuffs worn on the fingers like boxers' tape, bags covered in swirls of smudged graffiti; silver headpieces that looked as though models might be plugged into the mainframe.
Then he waged war with Gawker, the gossip site, which was battering him like a boxer's speed bag.
Pallett faced a huge backlash from the public after accusing Thomas of punching her repeatedly, "like a boxer punches a bag", inside the Celebrity Big Brother House.
Choreographer Joe Orrach even adds a percussive rat-a-tat with a boxer's speed bag and jump rope.
But when you bite your tongue, you're left absorbing punch after punch, like a boxer's speed bag.
He has a robust accessories business (the Boxer and Atlantique bags have been big hits), which accounts for about 70% of sales, and his ready-to-wear clothing is gaining momentum among women looking for something intellectual, modern and American.
After a few teasers and swirling circles, rat-a-tat-tat him senseless like a boxer whacking a speed bag.
Outside we could hear the boxers pummelling their heavy bag.
Drug dealer and washed-up boxer turned professional punch-bag Kelly Courter finds himself on the receiving end of some spectacular police brutality when his lover, Paloma, disappears and he, along with the girl's brother, is accused of her murder.
His father Sione highlights the poor standard of equipment, pointing out that boxers share one punching bag and some skipping ropes.
We all remember when a certain cake-throwing dude's own crazy rider leaked on the web, unveiling his demands for vacuum-sealed bags of boxer briefs and gluten-free pastries, right?
