Boxing Manager
Preview
Do you want to be the next Don King?
by William Thompson
previewed on PC
Time to step into the ring
Have you ever wanted to know what it would be like to be Don King and be able to manage some of the best prize-fighters in the world (as well as being able to get your hair to stand up like a frightened sheep)? The number of sports management games has increased significantly in recent times and setting the good from the bad can be quite a struggle. Football, basketball, cricket and even horse racing fans have management games based on their chosen fields, but strangely enough, pugilists have been largely ignored. That is until Boxing Manager (also known as BoxSport Manager) hits the shelves.
The idea of Boxing Manager is simple. As a boxing manager, you must take your team of budding Ali’s and Tyson’s to the top of the boxing mountain. Gamers start with just one fighter and must build up a stable of champions. You are given the option of ‘designing’ a new boxer in a way similar to creating a character in an RPG, selecting from a randomly created character or purchasing a boxer on the market. When, creating a boxer of your own, there are a range of variables that can be selected. Skin color, tattoo style and placement, hair style, facial features as well as boxing shorts color and design can all be arranged to suit the gamer. The name and country of origin of the boxer can also be selected.
In the blue corner…
After creating the look of your first punching bag…oops…fighter, you then get to select his boxing attributes. Each boxer has sixty points which you can allocate to a number of boxing skills. Increasing the boxer’s height gives him increased reach, robustness and enables him to take a bit more of a beating before he gets knocked down. Once all the initial work is done, it is then time to work on your boxer, spreading his training time between a number of exercises to increase his skills over time. Also, it is now that you get the opportunity to decide the fighting style of your boxer. Is he aggressive in the ring or a technically correct pugilist? It is up to you.
Apart from the boxer himself, you will also need to hire staff to help both yourself and your team of Title-belt hopefuls. Staff such as professional trainers, event managers, doctors and talent scouts will be able to assist in the goal of becoming the next Don King. Of course, there are many staff from a particular category to choose from, so do you choose the highly paid trainer who gets immediate results, or the up-and coming trainer who takes his time to nurture the young talent at his disposal but doesn’t come with a huge price-tag?
