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HBO Boxing for PlayStation 1
HBO Boxing for PlayStation 1 brings famous boxers and HBO television broadcasts together in a three-dimensional boxing game. You choose from more than 35 fighters, including George Foreman, Roy Jones Jr. and Rocky Marciano. In the ring, you alternate jabs, hooks and uppercuts with blocking and dodging. Your distance from your opponent determines which punch connects. The stamina and confidence meters help you judge when to apply pressure and when to step back for a moment.
For a longer challenge, you create your own boxer in Career and distribute points among his attributes. You hire a manager, trainer and cutman, arrange fights and work on your skills between bouts. Winning earns points that let you keep developing your fighter and support team. Outside that career, you can choose a single fight, start immediately through QuickBout or put together a television event with several bouts. This lets you decide whether to play one encounter or build a boxing career.
You play alone against the computer or locally against one other player. Two players use two standard PlayStation controllers; no Multitap is needed. Among other things, the controls let you choose the active hand yourself. You save your career between fights through Save in the career menu, using a PlayStation memory card. Load Career in the main menu lets you continue later. This does not save your position in the middle of a round.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
HBO Boxing for PlayStation 1 includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of HBO Boxing
Osiris Studios developed HBO Boxing for Acclaim Sports. The partnership with HBO was announced in 2000 and was intended to bring its familiar boxing television coverage to PlayStation. The American release arrived that year, followed by Europe in 2001. This placed the game in a period when several publishers were offering their own boxing titles. The name on this box referred to a television channel and its broadcasts, rather than a single film hero or athlete representing the entire game.
That licence appeared in several forms. Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Harold Lederman provided commentary, while names such as Boxing After Dark and World Championship Boxing returned in the career progression. The music and presentation also followed HBO's identity. The roster combined older champions with boxers who were active at the time. This allowed players to arrange encounters between fighters from different periods, without being tied to the result or participants of a single historical match.
Alongside the broadcasts, Osiris built a system around developing a custom boxer. The original manual describes not just punches, but also hiring a support team, scheduling bouts and training with limited resources. The sporting career therefore continued outside the ring. HBO Boxing appeared on the original PlayStation with three-dimensional fighters and controls using face and shoulder buttons. That combination of familiar television coverage, real athletes and managing your own fighter defines the structure of this release.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
Like HBO Boxing, Knockout Kings 2001 for PlayStation 1 combines real champions with a career for a custom boxer. Both let you train and consider your support team alongside fighting. EA places emphasis on Dynamic Punch Control and interactive training for defence and combinations. HBO distinguishes itself through its television programmes and the commentary of Lampley, Merchant and Lederman. You are therefore choosing between two different approaches to professional boxing, each with its own presentation and controls.
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing shares the ring, training and local duels with HBO Boxing, but uses striking fictional fighters such as Afro Thunder. Landing blows earns letters for a powerful Rumble attack. HBO uses real boxers, a confidence meter and its own active-hand settings. Both ask you to find an opening before striking, but Ready 2 Rumble turns that opening into an extravagant special attack rather than a recognisable television bout.
Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 for PlayStation 1 develops training and fights with exaggerated characters further. New training exercises and expanded Rumble attacks give the sequel a different rhythm from HBO Boxing. There, longer-term progress revolves around your custom boxer, his management and the fights you arrange. Both also offer a duel against someone on the same console. Round 2 opts for comic figures and spectacular consequences; HBO takes the recognisable boxing world as its starting point.
Mike Tyson Boxing for PlayStation 1 likewise focuses on building a boxing career. Managing training, diet and rest plays a major role alongside the fights. HBO Boxing divides your attention between attributes, a support team and booking fights, with a broader selection of famous fighters as opponents. Its television licence also provides different voices and programmes around the ring. Both link progress to preparation, but give you different decisions to make outside the matches.
Contender for PlayStation 1 likewise offers a route from the lower ranks to a world title and lets you develop a boxer. Its opponents are fictional characters with different attributes; HBO Boxing uses recognisable names from the real sport. Contender maintains an overtly arcade approach with its own roster of fighters. HBO adds the television channel's broadcasts and commentators. Both allow a single bout, while the longer career gives you a reason to keep developing the same fighter.
