It's time once again to step into the ring with Knockout Kings 2001, and this year's graphics are a knock out. All player models are defined and very animated, and that goes for every boxer on the game... all 50 of them. Facial features, tattoos, and muscle types are the unique features that separate this game from others. But not all the graphics are as tight as the boxers. The rings and arenas are good, but at times, they appear to lack some detail and become slightly blocky. And the crowd is really not impressive at all because they don't move in their 2-Dimensional way. But this game really comes down to how the boxers look and play, and the animations and graphics definitely deliver.

The sound category is also impressive in some ways, and a slight let down in others. First off, the commentary and music is a thrill to listen to. Commentators Max Kellerman, Al Bernstein and Teddy Atlas keep up with the fight, and theme songs depicting each boxer are right on. What I was hoping for more of were crowd noises and even louder punches.

If you ever thought you were the man (or woman) to smack the smile off of Muhammad Ali's face, or any other boxing great, then Knockout Kings is definitely for you. 50 of the greatest boxers of today and yesterday have been compiled into one video game, allowing Fantasy Match-ups and possible future pay-per-views all at your fingertips. And those match-ups can take place in a numerous amount of ways: Exhibition, Slugfest, Career, and Fantasy Match-up. Exhibition is just a single bout with regular boxing rules, whereas Slugfest has no rules, and no mercy. Fantasy Match-up is what I was talking about earlier, have boxers from today and yesterday face up to see who is the best of all time. The Career mode lets you create a boxer, who's nothing but a bum, and take him through training in an attempt for greatness and a shot at the Championship Belt. Throughout, you have to make choices about where to train and whom to have train you. And after every fight, you practice more and more with a sparring partner and body bag. After each practice, points are given on your performance, which you then put towards your attributes of Power, Speed, Stamina, Chin, Heart, and Cuts.

The fights themselves take place in the most well known venues from all over the world, and are refereed by the ever-so-famous Mills Lane. He runs a pretty fair fight, so don't try too many cheap shots, or he will call the fight. And Knockout Kings has added Woman boxing to the series, along with four different fighting styles: Boxing, Slugger, Freestyle, and Crab Style. Seriously, this games screams, "Let's get it on!"

The difficulty varies in Knockout Kings 2001. The regular Easy, Normal and Hard are your choices for difficulty, but you can change the variables such as turning on/off 3 Knockdown TKO, number of rounds, etc.

What Knockout Kings 2001 comes down to is controller configuration. Each button has a different function to it, but after a little practice, you should have no problem figuring out how to stick and move, and then come in with a haymaker for the kill. However, at times I found it damn near impossible to convert some combination punches, because the buttons wouldn't register fast enough. Also, be aware that there is some loading time that can't be avoided, and saving on the memory card comes down to what you choose to save.

PS2: Nothing really changed. There was a little smoothness to the player models, and the loading time was a slight faster, but really, there wasn't much difference playing Knockout Kings 2001 on PS2.

I really do think that Knockout Kings 2001 would have a good shot in a match for the Heavyweight title for "Best Boxing PlayStation Game."