Beginners are notorious for their bad stamina, while the best boxers conserve energy and make it look easy.
To thoughtfully compete in the sport of boxing, there are many invisible factors to consider and calculate. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, moving around the ring inefficiently is going to be the unseen thing that keeps getting you beat.
Train stamina all you want; even if you’re in great shape, failure to restrain yourself when the red mist descends can actually still be a detriment. If your constant flurries, telegraphed haymakers and restless darting leave you spent but the other guy survives, you’re going to be in a world of pain for the rest of the fight.
You’ll get beat up, cry about it and quit boxing video games, or you’ll learn throughout your career that certain actions in the ring take up more energy than others.
Odds are you just lost to a better player.
So don’t ragequit; take the L and learn something. Here are the top 3 reasons you play yourself and get knocked out in boxing video games
Running Around The Ring
First of all, you don’t have to always move at full speed all the time. You could, but constant sprinting and darting around the ring will leave you low on stamina pretty quickly. In some boxing games you can press a toggle to move slower. In Fight Night Round 4, by contrast, the directional stick on its own will move you around on your feet and let you cover ground.
Low stamina makes everything you do a little less effective as the fight drags on. The effect is cumulative, so if you never learn how to move efficiently, you’re going to lose to any bus driver who did; including the AI.
Every professional athlete has to keep in shape. Most use running as a form of cardiovascular conditioning. Running is a big part of training, especially for boxers. But not James “Lights Out” Toney. James Toney didn’t run. You won’t either; train your stamina on the double end bag instead in Fight Night Round 4.
In boxing, the term “running” has a few connotations. People can run from a fight, meaning they’re refusing to enter negotiations with someone else. But even after contracts are signed, fighters can be called “runners” inside the ring. This happens particularly when the fighter shows defensive prowess. Even though the point of boxing is to hit and not get hit, that doesn’t stop those that get hit a lot from complaining that they can’t fight someone that’s running away from them.
Control over your foot speed is control over your range to the opponent. Stepping purposefully and strategically is more important than galloping and jogging around the ring in a simulation style boxing game. You might want the ability to gallop in your arsenal, but most of the time that’s not the best default movement tendency. There’s a reason professional boxers have such subtle, efficient movement patterns.
Excessive Haymaking
Big punches are exciting, even if they don’t always land. Whenever you’ve seen a fighter swinging for the fences to the delight of the crowd, what you might not immediately notice is the toll throwing all those big punches takes on the fighter. In pursuit of the perfect punch, an impatient attacker might sacrifice balance, speed, energy, and the element of surprise. Sometimes power can make up for these sacrifices, but that would take some crazy power.
Deontay Wilder isn’t in Fight Night Round 4, so don’t even try it. Against evenly matched opposition, that super punch you’re waiting for is probably not going to be there for you. It all depends, but you probably don’t have much to gain by throwing huge shots from bell to bell like Rolly Romero. In Fight Night Round 4 if you don’t vary your attack, someone’s going to figure out how to get in between your punches and hit you with an even bigger shot.
Excessive Slipping/Leaning/Weaving
Slipping and leaning are sometimes more effective tactics to evade punches than stepping away. Stepping sometimes takes more stamina, takes a little longer than leaning, and can actually put you in a worse position defensively if you’re not careful
But overusing slips and weaves to avoid incoming damage has limits, too. Doing anything too much is going to wear you out in the ring. Slipping is no different. A professional is going to pick up on any accidental patterns you’re showing and clock you if you stand in front of them.
Unless you’ve got reflexes like Old Man Mayweather; then, you can get away with anything in there. But you ain’t Mayweather. Don’t get stuck relying on head movement alone for too long, or eventually you’re going to get clipped.
Styles make fights, so working on all the aspects of movement before the fight is important. Work hard learning these skills in training camp, and you won’t have to get taught hard in the ring.
Did you find this boxing video game movement guide helpful? Do you think a toggle for “loose” and “tight” movement is better than controlling speed around the ring using only pressure on the directional stick? Let us know in the comments below what boxing games have the best mechanics for moving around the ring.
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