He dreamed of the ultimate boxing game. Now he’s working with champions
Sports games are a massive business, with annual franchises for baseball, football (both kinds), mixed martial arts, and more played by millions of people worldwide. Yet boxing, a sport with international appeal, has barely been represented in the space in over a decade. That’s what makes Undisputed so intriguing. It looks to fill the void left by big names like EA’s Fight Night series, with a massive roster of legendary boxers, lifelike graphics, and authentic action made by an underdog indie studio that’s just ambitious enough to pull it off.
To better understand just how meticulous Undisputed is about capturing the sport, I met up with Ash Habib, founder and CEO of Undisputed developer Steel City Interactive to take in a night of championship fights and dissect the game. It was a night of spectacle, boxing action, and a who’s who of big names in boxing and sports broadcasting who were eager to talk to us about what Undisputed means to them.
The calm before the storm
It’s fight night in Los Angeles, as people from all over the world gather to watch Undisputed Welterweight champion Terrance Crawford move up in weight class to fight Super Welterweight champ Israil Madrimov. The fights will take place at the BMO arena, but for now, I’m at the JW Marriott’s bar. There’s electricity in the air as fans, fighters, and their camps mill about before heading to the arena.
As Habib and I sit in the bar and chat, I can’t help but marvel at all the boxers, coaches, and managers who come up to Habib, hug him, and ask him how the game is coming along. It was a bit surreal as we chatted about the game with legendary Venezuelan fighter Jorge Linares, a former world champ in three weight classes, and Tyson Fury’s manager stopped to check in with us. These people are invested, many are playable in the game, and they are eager to talk about how good it looks, and how realistic the boxing is. That’s amazing, given Undisputed started as a hobby of a few brothers who love boxing and
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