Speed Kills? -- Fight Night Attributes

In my continuing discussion of Fight Night Round 3 versus my real life experience as a boxer, I will talk about attributes.

 

In FN3, there are eight attributes: power, speed, agility, stamina, chin, body, heart, and cuts. There are essentially three ways to “train up” these attributes – combo dummy, heavy bag, and weight lifting. In my next blog, I’ll go into what I feel are the shortcomings of FN3’s training system. Today, I want to talk attributes.

 

If I were fighting another boxer in real life and we had all 8 attributes at the same level, and then we were each allowed to pick a single attribute to increase by 20%, I would take speed. Why? Because “speed kills”. In real life, speed will almost always beat power.

 

Let’s look at a couple of great boxers from the past – Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Ali was a fast and crafty boxer – and when he’d K.O. opponents, it wasn’t from power, it was because he had exhausted his adversary. Ali fought Joe Frazier 3 times and those fights went 15, 12, and 14 rounds, respectively. Ali fought Ken Norton twice, and those fights each went 12 rounds.

 

Foreman on the other hand was probably the hardest puncher in boxing. I’d take Foreman in his youth over Tyson in his youth. Foreman obliterated Frazier and Norton, knocking each of them out in the 2nd round. But how did he fare against the speedy Ali? For 8 rounds he was made to look foolish by Ali’s speed and rope-a-dope before Ali knocked out the exhausted Foreman in the 8th round.

 

The issue with taking speed versus power in FN3 is twofold: 1. The knockout punch is this game is a very rewarding experience graphically (nod to power), and 2. It’s hard to want to fight a 12 round fight (roughly 45 minutes) and win by decision – you’d rather end it quick with a KO and get on to your next fight (nod to power).

 

Hell, in real life, power is fun too. It’s really an incredible feeling to hit someone so hard that they either cannot or do not want to get back up to face you again. But when someone is fast enough to keep you at arm’s reach with speedy jabs, or when you find yourself taking 2-3 punches on the way in to throw one of your own, you begin to understand the importance of speed.