There are nights when I’ll be sitting on the couch with the laptop on my knees, silently entranced by the screen in front of me for endless hours.
Then I’ll pierce the quiet and ruin whatever my missus has on TV by belching out a roar of frustration. Naturally, she’ll ask what the hell am I doing, but the answer isn’t actually that simple.
I’m playing Football Manager, and to the uninitiated, how do you explain that a game which doesn’t involve any live action play can elicit such emotion?
Alex Deacon is the perfect person to help bring a level of understanding given he was on the team which helped create the cultural epitaph that is Football Manager.
Deacon was a developer on the original Championship Manager series, working on versions 2 and 3 of the popular game back in the 90s.
“I don’t see any difference between playing Football Manager and reading a book,” he says when asked by Sport360 about the popularity of the management simulation game.
“It lives in my head in the same way. If I’m reading I don’t need pictures in it, and that’s why it’s successful because it builds a world. It’s the same experience.”
Deacon eloquently brings to life the game’s charm and it’s this level of understanding which has helped make his latest enterprise such an enticing one.
Boxing Manager has just launched exclusively on the App Store and builds on the success of its predecessor World Title Boxing Manager, which accrued over 80,000 paid downloads and has been a Top-10 rated game on the Apple Store in the UK for the past two years.
This is Deacon’s baby. He’s a one-man team, coding, marketing and producing the graphics for a game which mirrors Football Manager, but brings something unique to the boxing world.
Indeed, fans of the Sweet Science haven’t been treated to a quality boxing game since the last Fight Night in 2011.
Boxing Manager is a chance to walk in the shoes of the world’s leading trainers and promoters with fighters from Flyweight to Heavyweight. Players select and train a stable of pugilists in their own gym, working up through the ranks in pursuit of world title glory.
Build gyms, sign fighters, develop skills, hire trainers, define tailored training plans, identify opponents, manage corners and create fight night strategies, the game is everything you want from a virtual world.
“With Boxing Manager, every game is unique,” Deacon says.
“There’s 3,000 different boxers every time you hit new game and that springs into life this story.
“That’s what I’ve tried to do is put colour on that story.”
He adds: “I grew up with boxing and I’ve always been into boxing since I can remember. There’s no greater sporting occasion than staying up until 2 or 3 in the morning for a heavyweight title fight, that is like ‘wow’.
“So I get that buzz. But in terms of making a game, I started this in about 1995/96, I worked on Championship Manager 2 and 3. I was over there when there was still only three people in a room, locked in a tiny broom cupboard in Islington.
“I didn’t need to make a football manager game, I just wanted to simulate boxing.”
Although predominantly working alone on the project, Deacon has had some pretty prestigious assistance in the past.
Iconic boxing trainer Emanuel Steward, the man who developed fighters like Thomas Hearns and later heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko through the famous Kronk Gym, offered his expert thoughts on an earlier version of the game.
“Years ago when we first started, my consultant on it was Manny Steward,” Deacon beams.
“He came over in 98 or 99, it was a long time ago, with Thomas Hearns. I have a contact in America who is brilliant, I don’t have any in the UK boxing wise, but he sorted it out and I was with them both for like four days.
“I ended up in this hotel room in Manchester, sat there in Manny Steward’s room and he threw me a Kronk t-shirt and said ‘right you’re on the team’.
“They were bringing in sports hacks [journalists] and Paul Hayward from The Telegraph came in and was like ‘what the f***’ are you doing here?!’ and I said ‘I have no idea’.
“They were brilliant as well. It was a game many versions old but it was still the same thing, certainly in my head.”
It’s not hard to imagine prominent figures within the current boxing community loving this game. When their star fighter’s hit the canvas, partners of famous figures could well be wearing the same quizzical face that was darted in my direction.
Game features and highlights for Boxing Manager include:
Create a stable – choose from over 3,000 unique boxers in every game, with the ability to pick from a vast array of virtual fighters in different weights, abilities and nationalities.
Train champions – configure custom training plans for your fighters and select opponents and strategies as they attempt to climb the rankings and fight for titles.
Develop your fighters – as your fighter gains experience, use that to develop individual attributes to improve fighters the way you want them to.
Multiple World Titles – three separate world titles and rankings are yours to win, together with five regional rankings, in each weight category.
Matchmaker – plot a course for your fighters from the bottom of the rankings all the way through to the world title using the matchmaker tool.
Multi-weight champions – select and train fighters from Flyweight to Heavyweight and move up through the weight categories in a bid to become the next Manny Pacquiao or Canelo Alvarez.
Live fight view – go ringside for every fight and use round-by-round stats capturing every punch and every knockdown to advise your fighters and influence the outcome of fights.
Negotiate contracts – build your stable of fighters using the custom contract negotiation tool and in-game fighter contract trading system. Sign fighters at the right price and watch profits grow as you develop their ranking and box office appeal.
Build gyms – extend your network of gyms to sign fighters from across the vast game world of over 3,000 fighters unique to every game.
Players new to the game can get tips on how to get started by visiting the Boxing Manager YouTube channel
Boxing Manager is available to download now for iPhone and iPad via the App Store for £4.99. For more information visit theboxingmanagergame.com
