And in this corner... the latest boxing game from 2K Sports for the Xbox 360!

For my money there has never been a more enjoyable boxing game for any video game system than Mike Tyson's Super Punch Out on the NES. Despite the cheesy 8-bit graphics, the opponent AI that telegraphed nearly every punch, and the over-the-top, somewhat ethnically stereotypical boxers, I logged hours and hours into that game working my way up to the title bout with Iron Mike himself, only to find myself clobbered by one punch from the grinning anti-hero of 1980's and '90's boxing.

Boxing in video games has come a long way since then but, surprisingly, the number of quality boxing titles for modern systems is woefully low. Whether other publishers have been shy to release a game in the wake of EA's Fight Night Round 3 or developers have felt that there's only so much that can be done with the sweet science of pugilism remains unclear, but Fight Night has rested comfortably at the top of the video boxing ring since it launched with the Xbox 360 in 2006.

Publisher 2K Sports is hoping to change that with the release of Don King Presents: Prizefighter. Promising a deeper and more robust career mode told through a unique ESPN Sports Documentary style, as many online options as possible, and a deep fighter creation system, this is the game that is supposed to deliver a crushing haymaker to Fight Night and walk away with the belt.

It ain't gonna happen, folks.

That's not to say that Prizefighter is a bad game. In fact it meets or surpasses Fight Night in a number of ways, yet still falls just short of the mark that would indicate greatness.