Will 2013’s Fight Night game deprive us of the Mega Match as well?

By @James_theGrad - 01/07/2013 - Comments

By James Le Blanc IV: The great thing for boxing fans/gamers here in 2013 is that we are due for another Fight Night.  The last few boxing games have not featured Floyd Mayweather and what surprised boxing fans two years ago when the roster for Fight Night Champion came out was the incredible number of top fighters that were not show cased in the game. There are a lot of political reasons as to why some of our favorite fighters are not in the game and not every case is the same. Brian Hayes the Producer of Fight Night expressed his own frustration stating, “It’s not like boxing is chock-full of stand-up guys accustomed to a strict code of business ethics, nor is it populated by an abundance of athletes with a realistic perception of their brand value and/or mainstream appeal.”

While Hayes clearly shows that his frustrations are on par with fans that wanted to see certain fighters in the game he also made a note to state that some boxers were extremely professional and helpful with the process of getting in the game.  Here is a list of fighters fans hope to see in this year’s Fight night that were not featured in 2011’s Fight Night Champion.

Floyd Mayweather

Andre Ward

Sergio Martinez

Julio Chavez Jr

Adrien Broner

Bam Bam Rios

Carl Froch

Canelo Alvarez

James Kirkland

Amir Khan

Juan Manuel Marquez

Juan Manuel Lopez

Abner Mares

Mikkel Kessler

Austin Trout

Andre Dirrell

With all the issues embodied in the sport of boxing including PED use or Judges Incompetence, by far the most frustrating issue would be the top two promotional company’s inability to work with each other to give the fans the fights they want to see.  The first fight that comes to mind is of course Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacman.  Now that this fight is unlikely to happen in light of Manny’s recent knockout loss there is another fight that is not happening due to the two promotional companies.  Fans have been asking all last year for Nonito Donaire to face Abner Mares.  Let’s see the best fight the best, but the problem is, one fighter fights for Top Rank and the other for Golden Boy.  We may never see this fight happen nor will we see a change to this issue in the near future.

Sports fans/gamers are always able to set up matches they want to see when it comes to Madden or NBA2K.  But boxing fans can’t even do this because their favorite fighters are not even in the game.  I know the solution to this problem is tough but my answer first would be to pay Floyd what he wants to not only be in the game, but on the cover.  I guarantee the game will sell and casual fans will pick it up just to create the showdown we have been asking for years and years.  I believe just as Floyd is able to put up big numbers when it comes to PPV events he will be able to do the same for the game and the creators of Fight Night will get their money back. As someone that has been big on the game I have noticed the consistent effort in bringing in classical fighters like Ali, Tyson, Foreman, Leonard, and Hearns.  What we need now is more effort to be done to get today’s top fighters so that the game is just as relevant as the sport.  I’m sure I missed some names up there and it would be great to have every top fighter in the game but this isn’t realistic. What is realistic is getting the best boxer in the sport today to be in the game, the #1 P4P fighter and the biggest money generator in the sport.

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