Boxing Games to Play

Boxing is a seamless mix of brute force and delicate grace. As boxing legend Muhammad Ali said, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." Whether you are an aspiring boxer or just a fan, boxing games will add a new dimension to this battle of wills and strategy. Boxing games may take place in the actual ring as a training method or you may prefer to stick to the TV screen and pick up a boxing video game. Regardless of your method, a boxing game will keep you punching and ducking for days.

  1. Physical Boxing Games

    • While standard boxing bouts are arranged in rounds (usually three minutes long) and require one boxer to "knock out" the other, you may alter the basic objectives for practice or entertainment purposes. One good practice game is the "punch/block" game. To play this game, boxers take turns as the "puncher" or the "blocker." For one minute, the puncher attempts to land as many punches as possible as the blocker tries to block, duck or avoid punches. Each landed punch counts as a point for the puncher and each blocked/ducked punch is a point for the blocker. After the first minute, switch roles. Repeat for three complete rounds.

      Another boxing game is the punching bag game. To play the punching bag game, use a hanging punching bag and take turns to see who can punch the bag continuously for the longest period of time, alternating hands. Power boxers may enjoy games that test pure strength. Like a karate master, boxers may try to punch through wooden boards. However, to avoid hand injury, you may want to have a weightlifting contest as a judge of strength instead.

    Boxing Video Games

    • From the early days of videog ames to recent consoles, boxing video games have become mainstays of any quality system. Back in the days when the arcade and the Nintendo 8-bit system ruled the gaming world, "Punch-Out!!" (and Nintendo's "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!") was the king of boxing games. "Punch Out!!" followed the adventures of a scrappy boxer known as Little Mac as he tried to rise up the boxing ranks against a wacky crew of fighters. "Punch Out!!" continues to have a presence in the video game world with a rerelease on Wii's Virtual Console and the Wii's "Punch-Out!!" update.

      Fans of more realistic boxing games will enjoy the old "Knockout Kings" games for the Playstation 2, Xbox and other systems. In 2004, "Knockout Kings" was replaced by EA's "Fight Night, which has seen several subsequent editions. Both "Knockout Kings" and "Fight Night" feature current and classic boxers to play as and to fight. Career modes allow you to train your boxer and work your way to the top. Newer editions of "Fight Night" for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 include loads of downloadable options such as alternative boxing attire.

      Other boxing video games from the past and present include "Foes of Ali," "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing," "Animal Boxing," "4D Sports Boxing" and "Final Blow."

    Boxing Spectator Games

    • Even if you just like to watch boxing on TV, you can nonetheless make a game out of it. Spectator games are especially good for evenings of back-to-back matches or boxing tournaments. The simplest game is to pick which boxers you think will win each match and collect points for every boxer you guess correctly. Whoever has the most points at the end of the evening or tournament wins. For a more elaborate pick-style game, guess what round a certain boxer will win in, whether the win will result from a knockout or a judge's decision, how many times a boxer will get knocked down and how physically beat up a certain boxer will end up. Fans of drinking games can put parameters on a bout so that each time a boxer lands a punch or each time the ref has to break up the boxers, everyone takes a drink.