The haymaker style punches also take a long time to animate, so you make yourself vulnerable if you’re throwing it or you can see it from a mile away if your opponent is throwing it. Fatigue is a factor, and your fighter and definitely moves slower and reacts slower as he tires, but the total lack of responsiveness at times will make you just give in and start mashing away to make your fighter do something. If you’re disciplined, and willing to fight exactly like the game wants you to, you’ll see better boxing action. Unfortunately, it’s almost counterintuitive to how you want to use the system to make your fighter move, punch, and defend.

Other limitations in the game include only five save slots for created fighters, and you can only create a featherweight, lightweight, middleweight, or heavyweight. Also, although the roster of fighters in the game (both included and unlockable) is decent, including the likes of Kelly Pavlik, up-and-comer Andre Berto, Samuel Peter, and the legendary Joe Louis, there are many big names missing, like Floyd Mayweather, Wladimir Klitschko, Sugar Ray Leonard, and so on.

The graphics are very good as the crowd, arenas, fighters, ring announcers, referees and just about everything else in the game looks very sharp and animate realistically. The create-a-boxer options are deep and very customizable, although not quite as thorough as a few other sports video games on the market. The boxers have visible body hair and glisten with sweat as the fight progresses. Their faces swell up and show signs of abuse over the course of a bout, but unfortunately, there aren’t any cuts to speak of, and fights will not get stopped due to damage to the face. Also, the collision detection can be a bit spotty.

The high production values are also evident in the audio. All the sounds and interactions from the gym, in the ring, in the arenas, and from the managers, promoters, and other fight game personnel are realistic and often entertaining. The soundtrack offers music from some new, some old, and some obscure artists covering a variety of genres. The only real issue with the audio is the commentary, as Jim Lampley sometimes falls behind the action, and occasionally doesn’t make sense (for example, after you knock your opponent down twice in a round, he’ll say the other fighter got the better of it, or after the referee stops the fight, he’ll say it’s going to the cards).

Don King Presents: Prizefighter has a unique story mode covering aspects of boxing seldom broached in other titles. The game is chock full of high production values, great graphics, and immersive audio. But a boxing game needs first rate controls to be successful, and it’s here where the game gets knocked out like Mike Tyson in Tokyo.

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