There is little doubt that boxing is one of the world’s most popular sports. But whilst more than 13 million people across the world tuned in to watch Andy Ruiz beat Anthony Joshua to take the Heavyweight world title, it’s clear that boxing needs to keep up with the times in order to maintain its global appeal.
Whilst boxing revels in its raw simplicity as a sport, it has proven to be surprisingly slow to align itself with the buoyant competitive gaming industry. Competitive gaming, or esports, has come from nowhere to be one of the 21st century’s defining entertainment trends and there are even esports betting sites like www.liveesportsbetting.com that allow you to wager on competitive gaming just like you would a boxing bout.
Such is its success that the worlds of esports and traditional sports are merging, and there are already dozens of popular gaming tournaments for sports simulators based on anything from basketball to Formula One motor racing.
These moves have helped attract a much younger audience to these sports who would have previously shown little interest in such physical activities. Whilst boxing is proving to be endlessly popular, by aligning itself with the esports world, it could ensure that future generations get to understand the appeal of top-level boxing tournaments.
Whilst some sports such as cricket and even tennis might have trouble in making the switch to the small screen of video gaming, boxing seems to be ideally placed to make a big hit in the esports world. Many of the world’s most popular competitive gaming titles are fighting games like Street Fighter V and Tekken, and it’s easy to see how a decent boxing simulator could make the transition.
Despite this, there’s been a glaring lack of quality boxing video games released over the past few years. Most boxing gaming fans will still have fond memories of the Fight Night Champion game that came out for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles way back in 2011. This EA Sports title offered gamers a great way to customise their boxers as they made their way from amateur level all the way up to major bouts at Madison Square Garden.
Whilst the story mode of Fight Night Champion may not be suited for esports, the basic template of the gameplay had enough to make it viable for pro gaming tournaments. There was even the option of playing as legendary boxers such as Wladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao, David Haye and Timothy Bradley.
Unfortunately, it looks like the video gaming world has given up on boxing simulators since this last edition of the Fight Night series. But if there was enough hunger amongst amateur gamers to set up their own tournaments for a game like Fight Night Champion, then EA Sports might realise the appeal of giving the world another instalment of this classic boxing game.
What’s interesting is that some of the world’s other popular fighting sports have already been quick to jump on the esports bandwagon. The Singapore-based mixed martial arts organisation, ONE Championship have gone on from signing UFC stars and boxers like Srisaket Sor Rungvisai to recently setting up their own esports tournament.
The One Esports competition will feature competitive gaming sessions alongside the regular MMA bouts across Asia, and the $50 million venture could prove to highlight how well esports and fighting sports could work together.
However, there could still be numerous challenges to overcome before boxing makes a big splash in the competitive gaming domain. As well as the lack of recently released quality boxing games, the numerous licensing issues and red tape of the boxing world could make it tricky to get enough big-name athletes to lend their likenesses to fledgling tournaments.
But seeing as the notoriously finicky Premier League football organisation and Formula One motor racing group have managed to establish their own branded competitive gaming leagues, it surely be too much of an issue for the boxing world to get its act together.
