PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE The Prima Games logo is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., registered in the United States About the Author and other countries. Primagames.com is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., registered in the Fernando “Red Star” Bueno United States. Prima Games is a division of Random has been a gamer since House, Inc. opening his fi rst Atari, and has been writing creatively © 2006 Electronic Arts Inc. Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS and the since his early years in EA SPORTS logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of high school. During college Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights he combined his loves for Reserved. Muhammad Ali provided courtesy of G.O.A.T., Inc. All gaming and writing and began freelancing for other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. popular gaming websites. EA SPORTS™ is an Electronic Arts™ brand. The San Diego native found his way to Northern California shortly after high school. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form After graduating from the University of Califor- or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, nia, Davis, with a dual degree in English and art recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without history, he was able to land a job as an editor for written permission from Electronic Arts Inc. Prima Games. Though happy with his position as an editor, his life called him to Las Vegas where Product Manager: Jason Wigle he now resides. During the move to Nevada, he Editor: Alaina Yee also made the move to author and has since Design & Layout: Jody Seltzer, Bryan Neff, Scott Watanabe written a number of game books, including 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Prince of Persia: Two Thrones, Manufacturing: Stephanie Sanchez AND 1, and Stubbs the Zombie. In his off time he enjoys the works of Hermann Please be advised that the ESRB Ratings icons, “EC”, “E”, “E10+”, “T”, Hesse, Johann Van Goethe, Franz Kafka , Thomas “M”, “AO”, and “RP” are trademarks owned by the Entertainment Software Association, and may only be used with their permission Mann, and EGM. When not writing for Prima, he and authority. For information regarding whether a product has been continues to perfect his craft as a poet. rated by the ESRB, please visit www.esrb.org. For permission to use the Ratings icons, please contact the ESA at esrblicenseinfo.com. We want to hear from you! E-mail comments and feedback to [email protected]. Important: Prima Games has made every effort to determine that the informa- tion contained in this book is accurate. However, the publisher makes no Author Acknowledgments warranty, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, effective- ness, or completeness of the material in this book; nor does the Making a book like this requires a lot more than publisher assume liability for damages, either incidental or conse- any one person can give. That is why I would like quential, that may result from using the information in this book. to thank the following people. The publisher cannot provide any additional information or support regarding gameplay, hints and strategies, or problems with hardware Jill Ellis, Jason Wigle, and Alaina Yee: you’re or software. Such questions should be directed to the support num- an awesome team. Joe Grant Bell, thanks for all bers provided by the game and/or device manufacturers as set forth the hours spent researching this wonderful sport in their documentation. Some game tricks require precise timing and of boxing. Matt “BurnKing” Lemieux, thanks for may require repeated attempts before the desired result is achieved. sharing your secrets with me…and the readers. Thanks also go to my fi ancée, Leslie, for putting ISBN: 978-07615-5475-2 up with the endless stream of boxing movies and documentaries playing in the background as Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2006932848 my keyboard clicked away. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to extend a big thank you to the team at EA for their help in making this book a reality. 2 Contents Contents Introduction ___________________________4 Contenders __________________________ 88 A Contender’s Rise—From Knockout Kings to Manny Pacquiao ________________________________ 88 Fight Night _______________________________________ 4 Marco Antonio Barrera _________________________ 90 Jab, Hook, and Block Boxes _____________________ 7 Diego Corrales __________________________________ 92 Erik Morales ____________________________________ 94 Mastering the Sweet Science— Jesus Chavez ___________________________________ 96 Technique ____________________________8 Vicente Escobedo _______________________________ 98 To Brawl or Not to Brawl? _______________________ 8 Juan Lazcano __________________________________ 100 Total Player Control—Offensive Tools __________ 19 Arturo Gatti ____________________________________ 102 Keeping Your Face Pretty—Defensive Moves ___ 20 Roberto Duran _________________________________ 104 Plan and Execute _______________________________ 23 Ricky Hatton ___________________________________ 106 Anatomy of a Bout _____________________________ 31 Micky Ward ____________________________________ 108 Oscar De La Hoya ______________________________ 110 Boxer’s Buffet—Game Modes _______ 34 Ray Leonard ___________________________________ 112 Play Now _______________________________________ 34 Ray Robinson __________________________________ 114 ESPN Classic™ Mode ___________________________ 35 Marvin Hagler __________________________________ 116 Career Mode ____________________________________ 35 Bernard Hopkins _______________________________ 118 Get In The Ring Mode __________________________ 36 Jake LaMotta __________________________________ 120 Play Online Mode ______________________________ 37 Jermain Taylor _________________________________ 122 Hard Hits Mode _________________________________ 37 Ronald Wright __________________________________ 124 Training _________________________________________ 38 Roy Jones Jr. __________________________________ 126 Create Champ __________________________________ 38 Jeff Lacy _______________________________________ 128 Options _________________________________________ 39 James Toney ___________________________________ 130 Muhammad Ali _________________________________ 132 Be the Boxer—Get In The Ring Mode _ 40 Calvin Brock ___________________________________ 134 Get In The Ring _________________________________ 40 Joe Frazier _____________________________________ 136 Floyd Patterson ________________________________ 138 Living the Dream—Career Mode ____ 43 Starting A Career _______________________________ 43 Rings ______________________________ 140 Training _________________________________________ 51 The Warehouse ________________________________ 140 Running A Career _______________________________ 54 Windy City Boxing Gym _______________________ 140 The Prima Gym Corkboard _____________________ 59 The Aragon Ballroom __________________________ 141 State Palace Theater ___________________________ 141 Bad Blood __________________________ 67 Staples Center _________________________________ 142 Ali vs. Frazier __________________________________ 68 Madison Square Garden _______________________ 142 Jones Jr. vs. Toney ______________________________ 70 Jones Jr. vs. Hopkins ___________________________ 72 Dominating Online _________________ 143 Hopkins vs. Taylor _______________________________ 74 Burning Up the Ranks with “BurnKing” _______ 143 Robinson vs. LaMotta ___________________________ 76 Matt “BurnKing” Lemieux _____________________ 143 Leonard vs. Duran ______________________________ 78 Leonard vs. Hagler ______________________________ 80 The Gym Locker ___________________ 146 Duran vs. Hagler ________________________________ 82 All Gear and Tattoos ___________________________ 146 Gatti vs. Ward ___________________________________ 84 Unlockables ___________________________________ 153 Barrera vs. Morales _____________________________ 86 Unlockable Characters ________________________ 153 primagames.com 3 PRIMA OFFICIAL GAME GUIDE A Contender’s Rise—From Knockout Kings to Fight Night The road to becoming the number one boxing game of all time has been a lot like the road a boxer takes from amateur standing to professional glory. When Sony’s revolutionary video game console, the Sony PLAYSTATION® launched in 1995 and met with tremendous commercial success, the seemingly inevitable arrival of boxing games was not far behind. Ironically enough, however, it took three long years for the fi rst boxing game for the new generation to arrive. Knockout Kings Knockout ued the valued tradition of pitting real-life boxers against Kings arrived each other in dream matchups. The inclusion of classic on the boxers in particular was a daring step forward: fi nally, a PLAYSTATION®, gamer could pit Ali versus Holyfi eld. courtesy of EA Sports, in October of 1998. Tale of the Tape— Introduction The cover was Knockout Kings 1999 graced by none Many would other than the argue that Golden Boy Knockout himself, Oscar Kings 1999 De La Hoya, in doesn’t exist. what seemed They would to be a perfect be wrong. match be- The gap in the tween the unbeatable boxer and unbeatable developer. early Knock- The game met with success and commercial acclaim for out Kings its realistic depiction of boxing and inclusion of actual, franchise was real-life boxers from every weight division and several dif- actually an ferent eras of boxing. In total, 38 pugilists