Election 2016: Trump, Clinton don boxing gloves in Cape Coral

Modern boxing has produced many memorable bloody matchups between smack-talking fighters who let out their disdain for each other in a ring surrounded by cheering spectators.

Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975. Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns in 1981. Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield in 1997. Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko in 2003.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

OK. Maybe that last one is more of a (sometimes seemingly plausible) figment of many a distressed voter's imagination. But outside of a storefront in downtown Cape Coral, the possibility of Trump and Clinton boxing is a little more real.

Two mannequins in the likeness of the Democrat and Republican candidates stand in front of Auto Sound on Cape Coral Parkway. They're dressed in the usual suits, but their hands are slipped into bright red boxing gloves.

The eye-catching sight is getting attention from passers-by in cars who sneak peeks while waiting at the traffic light.

Attention is only part of the goal, though, said Keith Morgan, Auto Sound's manager.

"The point is to laugh, to lighten the mood," Morgan said. "We just want to make them laugh."

Morgan's strategy may be supplying a needed boost. Trump and Clinton's attempts to beat each other to the Oval Office have gotten so adversarial at times that 52 percent of American adults report the election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress, according to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association.

The election's savage tone led Auto Sound to put boxing gloves on the homemade mannequins, said Morgan.

"That's what they are doing. They are going at each other," he said. "Those two, they're throwing blows."

Since the Trump and Clinton mannequins were put outside the store on Wednesday, people have stopped by to remark on them and take photos, said Morgan. Auto Sound has decided not to keep them out at night.

"We're afraid people will beat them up," he said.