As Fight Night Champion celebrates its 10 year anniversary, boxing fans are reminded of the relative dearth of games at their disposal. Now, with recent footage from eSports Boxing Club, boxing aficionados have a new reason to get excited.
eSports Boxing Club is a boxing game rooted in the spirit of old but made with the use of all the modern tools available. In order to garner an authentic feel, developer Steel City Interactive consulted with professional boxers and institutions to get things right. While the game is still in development, it will feature a story mode that takes players from the amateur ranks into the professional realm, as well as multiplayer online matches.
Fans need only a quick glance at the footage to see that ESBC is the real deal. The movement is among the most true-to-life players will have seen, and small details like stances tailored to specific boxers are a neat touch that has never been done properly before. Take, for instance, the clash between Marciano and Frazier shown at the end of the clip. Frazier holds his hands high yet relaxed with his elbows in tight—true to how he fought. Marciano's lead hand is carried low nearer his waist, also true to form. The attention to detail here has fans anticipating ESBC to debut as one of the best boxing games yet.
Beyond the idiosyncratic stances, ESBC's footage also promises fluid footwork and punch selection, the clip even shows off a check hook—like the one Mayweather landed on Ricky Hatton—among a myriad of other punches. With unexpected fighters like Eddie Hall—an accomplished strongman yet to have his professional boxing debut—fans might be able to expect YouTubers and other celebrity boxers, though nothing along that lines has been confirmed at the time of this writing. While ESBC certainly appears promising to fans, ambitious games are often fraught with underlying bugs, a problem that Steel City Interactive has already admitted it is looking into.
eSports Boxing Club is in development for PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, X/S.