Don King's Prizefighter: Joe Calzaghe vs Buster Dog

For a couple of times, I've played as Joe Calzaghe on Don King's Prizefighter and fought some boxers like Chris Eubanks and Andre Berto, for the most part without encountering much trouble nor resistance. I then began to think about seeing how I'd do against my overpowered boxers. Naturally, that meant Joe Calzaghe vs Buster Dog at hard difficulty.

I brought everything I learned from the Andrew Golota fight into this bout, defending smart and moving away when I get in trouble. Also, I decided to give my game plan a little tweak here and there. Normally I'd throw plenty of body jabs to hurt and stiffle the opponent's offensive, but that did not work well in stopping Buster's assault. For this fight, I decided to try and throw more body hooks instead as they are more damaging than the jabs and straights.

At the first round, the speed and power that Buster brought to the table was immediately felt. He got some good combinations in but I kept moving and throwing body hooks. As the round went on, I realized that the hooks were good weapons in stopping his punches. It allowed me to stun him on multiple occasions and really wear him out. It was at this moment that I thought that the fight was pretty much it.

When round two started, Buster quickly reminded me this wasn't the end yet, with him losing none of that speed and power that made him dangerous. I could not put together a better offense here and was at one point, in trouble of getting knocked down. Fortunately, I was able to knock him down to get an otherwise closely contested round.

After that scare, I wasn't going to ease up on him. I made sure to stay diligently on offense and defense. Everytime I put him down however, he just got up, showing no signs of ever slowing down.

By round seven, I was contemplating that the fight was going to go all twelve rounds, as Buster just kept at it and I kept chipping at him, hurting him as much as I could. When the knockdown came, I realized that Buster was finished. The ten count came and I had finally knocked him out.

It was still a tough fight but nowhere on edge like the Golota fight was. Buster is always dangerous if you give him a chance to hit you. This time, I was more than prepared to face him.

Don King's Prizefighter: Andrew Golota vs Buster Dog

A couple of hours ago, I entertained the thought of giving myself an interesting bout on Don King's Prizefighter for the DS. For most of my time playing the game, I've used my created boxer, Buster Dog to mow down the opposition. Being the strongest boxer in the game with decent skills overall, I figured it would be more interesting this time around if the tables were turned against me. Specifically, a boxer of my choosing versus Buster Dog.

In choosing the boxer I would use, I wanted to use one who would have very standard statistics if not underpowered in comparison to this fictional boxer. Once I bumped into Andrew Golota and checked the statistics 2k had given him, I knew the match was set.

It would be Andrew Golota vs Buster Dog, 12 rounds in the Trump Taj Mahal. I set the difficulty to 'Hard' knowing that using any boxer other than my customized ones, it would provide an interesting challenge.

When the first round came, I was in for some highly intense combinations and I did not expect anything less. Buster Dog gave me all I could chew and then more. None of my punches would hurt and he would slip in some slick combinations that left Golota stunned for most of the round. I made a critical error in trying to beat him to the punch thinking my jabs would disrupt his attacks opening up some combinations. Suffice to say that I paid the price dearly with one knockdown in his favour.

Much of the opening two rounds were the same as I tried to figure out what I could do to stop this monster from completely annihilating me. Eventually I started to find my own rhythm, fighting much smarter and moving away when I could. I believe it was the third round that I manage to get a knockdown of my own, a clear sign that this was going to be a war.

I tried to fight as smart as I could and learned a few more as I went to deeper waters. Buster was not slowing down in spite of the two knockdowns I have given him. There were rare instances where I hurt him bad enough to see him cover up, but many times I could not capitalize those instances. At the same time however, I had kept my defense as best as I could and manage to scupper much of his assault, save for two critical errors, giving Buster two rounds via knockdowns.

At the last few rounds, I decided that if I tried to keep trying to knock Buster out, I would get a few my way. Struggling in survival mode, I decided that even though I probably have lost the fight on the judge's cards, it was worth a shot to try and outbox Buster and force a decision.

The final bell rung to end round 12 of this thrilling war. In an instant, the judge's rendered their decision and surprised was I from the scoring that I just could not let this pass without some photographs.

You read it right. Buster Dog won the fight though from the judge's cards, I would have figured it would have been a majority draw instead. A part of me feels that had I fought smarter in the first two rounds, I may have squeaked it out. Regardless of the outcome, I had a great time with this bout as well as learned a few things should I go for another match of this kind.

Another screenshot below for the statistics of the bout. You decide who fought the better fight.

Some thoughts of the day with Don King's Prizefighter

I went back to playing Don King's Prizefighter on the DS. At this point, I have totally beaten the game and have moved on so to add a little spice, I decided to played an exhibition match on hard mode using Archibald Moore vs Rocky Marciano on the classic 30s ring. I wanted to put everything as authentic as the game could to present the classic Marciano vs Moore battle and put myself on a real stiff challenge. Marciano on Easy and Medium is a cakewalk but on hard, he is deadly lethal. I really had to fight my heart out to a 12-round unanimous decision. I did not realize I had set the game on twelve rounds so I was really wondering while slugging out with Rocky how long the fight was and boy it was a thrill to get the final round and beat him.

At the opening bell, Rocky hurt me with some real lethal combos and I was in real trouble. I had not put my fighting cap on and that was a real wake up call for me to keep my defenses up. To literally walk into his combinations is not the smartest thing to do so I paced myself and worked on more defense and unloading shots and jabs when it was really open. I could tell at round one I was barely hurting him but I kept on the peppering jabs, focusing on the body mostly. I was able to rest a bit and keep most of lethal powershots at bay. That was survival mode and I survived round one without kissing the canvas.

As it turns out, the judges called the round even. I was surprised when my cornerman called it an even round. We had to work on slowing Rocky down and keep on hitting him when he was open. The plan was to wear him down and have the damage accumulate, focusing on the body combinations more than the head. It was foolish to try and go for the head when there was still a lot of power in his shots. For rounds two to six, this was the approach and I did not deviate from the game plan.

By round seven, I got my first knockdown and I noticed his power punches were getting slower. That was the first real sign for me that Rocky was getting hurt (also the first time I realized the game emulated this). I needed to start pouring in and opening up with the combinations because going in on the defense will allow Rocky to recover. Rocky did get a few hooks and uppercuts in but they did not do as much damage as they did before. I started to balance out my assault on both the body and the head while still maintaining a good defense. Rocky is darn dangerous at any point in the fight if you let him have his day, so do not forget about defense!

I started to get more power combinations in and hurt Rocky more and more. Still, I did not forget to apply defense. Rocky was getting a bit discouraged and frequently bobbed, and weaved instead of throwing his attacks. For rounds nine, ten, and eleven, I had Rocky backed on the ropes for a good half round, hurting him and giving him the time of his life. I finished round eleven with two knockdowns knowing full and well that I had control of the fight and I was way ahead on the scorecards. With round twelve I knew I had it and I sealed the deal with another knockdown.

The score card read Moore - Marciano, 360-302. I racked up a total of six knockdowns. The first few rounds were a bit of a knife's edge as Marciano had some powerful shots. As the fight wore on, it got a bit easier. I have no doubt that on another day, Marciano would probably knock me out. Today though, was my day.