AceShowbiz -

Jennifer Lopez apparently enjoys portraying a boxer for V Magazine. The estranged wife of Marc Anthony has traded her glamorous dress with boxing gear in a cross-gender photo shoot for the publication's Sports Issue, and admitted in an accompanying interview, "It did make me feel tougher."

The 42-year-old songstress worked together with international photographer Mario Testino to show off her fierce and androgynous side in the spread inside the issue. A number of black-and-white images capture her in nothing but a pair of boxing gloves, while several others sees her donning black or red groin protector.

Having learned how to box for "Money Train" and krav maga for "Enough", J.Lo gushed, "I know how to fight!" She elaborated, "I can take a lot of punches and still keep going. I've been trained like a boxer to go 15 rounds." While she claimed that she's "always felt like a tough girl from the Bronx," she still noted, "But I have a soft core."

In the featured interview, the "On the Floor" hitmaker also spoke about her relationship with her estranged husband, with whom she teamed up on "Q'Viva! The Chosen". She explained, "I mean, we're parents and friends first. That will be the thread that ties us together. I don't know if people expect it to be negative just because the [intimate] relation-ship didn't work out."