How Undisputed went from amateur to championship contender

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 video games, but have no game development experience.

“We downloaded Unity, and literally googled ‘how to make a game,’” Habib tells Digital Trends. “We watched YouTube tutorials starting from how to move a box from one side of the screen to the other. I thought if I can do that, I just need to replace the box with a fighter, right?”

Within a few weeks, they had a fully functional boxing game. Habib’s other brother and a friend joined them on the project. That’s when Habib went all in, quit his job, and devoted all his resources to making his dream boxing game.

“I’m someone who is either 0, or 120, nothing in between. I had to do this.”

A team of four became a team of 12. Then a team of dozens. Now, a few years later, Habib heads a fully featured studio, with a full staff including everyone from recent college graduates to industry veterans with over a decade of working at Epic Games or EA. What began as a simple moving box is now a detailed boxing simulation that’s been available in early access for over a year, with its official release fast approaching.

We are at the arena early to watch the undercard fights, including compact and powerful Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz defending his title against the rangey and highly technical Jose Valenzuela. It’s a clash of styles, as Pitbull aggressively pushes forward, looking to put his explosive power on display, while Valenzuela bobs, weaves, and uses sharp footwork to stay out of range, attempting to pick his opponent apart with precision. It’s a close fight, and Valenzuela narrowly ekes out a split decision to take the title. It’s also a perfect showcase for the “science” aspect of the sweet science, which is at the heart of Undisputed.

Habib talks about how movement is one of the core principles in boxing, and their system is built specifically to incorporate that, carefully tracking the transfer of weight, and how that is part of, rather than separate from, punching.

“You’ve got check hooks, moving left or right, stepping in and out, and transitions with movement,” he says. “If you’re a front-foot pressure fighter you can use your lunging hooks, stepping in with your straights, and using all kinds of angles. If you are a back-foot fighter, you’re able to hit those back-foot jabs and step back.”

That’s in keeping with the old boxing adage that styles make fights. Different archetypes are represented, like your sluggers, swarmers, and outboxers. Just as important, the fighters in the game are painstakingly re-created visually, and with their signature styles to be as authentic as possible. Sergio Mora, another former world champion boxer known for his slick, elusive defense and fast hands, sat with Habib and I and offered his thoughts on the subject.

“In Undisputed you are actually getting the small nuances that make you go the distance, that allows you to beat a harder puncher when you don’t have the power,” Mora tells Digital Trends. “I wasn’t a power puncher, but if you play me in the game you won’t be able to hit me cleanly, and I’ll be able to pick and punish you with body shots. I was a really good body puncher. I took a good shot. So you can master my style of fighting, my defense, my speed, my movement, and take a hard puncher into later rounds and make it interesting.”

Getting the fighters right is a priority, whether it’s the monstrous left hook of Joe Frazier, or the bouncing swag of Muhammad Ali. Habib’s relationship with fighters is a two-way street. He tells me about motion capturing for Roy Jones Jr., maybe the most uniquely elusive boxer of all time. While Habib was generally happy with the results, Jones wasn’t sold that anyone could imitate him and told Habib he was coming over to do his own mocap.

“Roy puts on the suit, and he absolutely killed it. Yeah, there is only one Roy.”

As we approach the main event, the glitz and glamour of boxing is on full display. Moving lights cut through the sky, as the music pumps and video packages introduce champion and challenger. It’s the spectacle of boxing, and that big fight feel is truly something special. Todd Grisham called play-by-play for the fight card and lent those skills to Undisputed as well. I asked him about what makes that big fight feel. To him, it comes down to the people in the ring.

“When it comes to the ring, it’s pure and surreal,” Grisham tells Digital Trends. “There’s nowhere to run. I get locked on these two guys or girls, best man wins.”

Grisham’s an industry vet, with many years at WWE, ESPN, Glory Kickboxing, and others. He’s another person deeply invested in Undisputed; he reached out to Habib when he heard he was making a boxing game to express his interest in joining on. While being in Sheffield, England, was great for signing U.K. talent, Grisham’s deep roots in U.S. sports were invaluable as a liaison and lending the credibility to sign fighters on this side of the Atlantic.

The last fight of the night isn’t one that you would see on a card anywhere — at least not yet. Canelo Alvarez is in the ring taking on Terrance Crawford, and I’m at the controls. The real Crawford successfully took the title off of Israil Madrimov at the show, but I’m hoping to send this version of him to the canvas for a 10 count. The bell rings, and we come out swinging.

It’s stunning how realistic the fighters look. Habib tells me with a laugh that they were once mistakenly included in a round-up of Unreal Engine games because the author assumed a Unity game couldn’t look this good. The lighting was bright and clear, as it cast authentic shadows through the ropes. It’s cliché, but I could easily mistake this for a televised broadcast.

“Indie games have kind of had a free pass when it comes to presentation,” Habib says, “but I don’t want to compromise, I want to go further. From the tail of the tape to the commentators talking about fighters, talking about strengths and weaknesses like their reach advantage or disadvantage, Jimmy Lennon completely announcing each fighter with their actual, licensed corner teams. The build-up to touching gloves in the center of the ring.”

As my fight began, I pushed the pace with Canelo, looking to score with his powerful hooks. The CPU-controlled Crawford behaved much like his real-life counterpart, as he slipped punches and returned sharp combinations. I start changing elevation, alternating between blows to the body and head, and before long the camera suddenly comes in tight with a red aura, indicating I have my opponent hurt. With a burst of adrenaline, I pour it on and drop the other fighter with a right hand behind his ear.

“We’ve created a system with multiple damage zones,” Habib explains. “You’ve got neutral zones, harmful zones, critical zones, and then the velocity of the punch and impact.”

He describes it as several systems combined into one, where the strength of punches, where they land, inertia of the fighters, and fatigue all contribute to the damage. It also accounts for traits specific to each fighter. Fighters can have up to three, like Deontay Wilder’s exceptionally powerful right hand, and they do a lot to make the fighters feel unique. They often mix pluses and minuses. One example Habib gives is Arturo Gatti who becomes more dangerous after being knocked down (something Micky Ward is all too familiar with).

As Crawford stands back up rain blows down on him, looking for the knockout blow. I’m swinging wild, and realize too late that I’ve gassed my fighter. Crawford sees it to, and picks me apart while I’m too tired to threaten a counter. Now I’m the one in danger of being knocked down. I raise my guard and try and push him away, but he turns the corner on me with a fast pivot, and finds my chin with a hook in the process, dropping me to the ground.

I’m able to return to my feet, and as the rounds progress, the visible damage begins to accumulate on both fighters, with cuts and swelling visible. I try to stalk my opponent and drive him into the corner, but his evasive footwork keeps him free. As the fight wears on, my over-aggression gets the better of me, and in the fifth round, my exhausted Canelo drops for the last time after a vicious right hand that slipped right between my arms.

I’m eager to get back in the ring for my next fight. With almost 100 unique fighters — men and women — and the ability to create my own fighter and play through a full career mode, this indie studio is punching well above its weight, and I can’t wait to see how far it comes once the final bell rings.