Making it's debut for the PlayStation 2, Knockout Kings 2001's graphics delivered some mighty fine jabs, but couldn't come up with a finishing haymaker. First off, player models were exceptionally defined, including their facial features and muscle definition. However, they seemed somewhat cartoonish and blocky, which I don't think EA Sports was going for. Truly though, the models themselves are pretty incredible looking. The same applies to each different venue that you fight in, including impressive camera angles, highly detailed rings, and a fairly realistic looking crowd - something PlayStation isn't always known for. The big beef I found with KK 2001 was the collision-detection flaws. Sometimes, I was still an inch away from landing a punch, yet it recognized it anyways. Or fists would go right through the very muscular stomach, something I don't even think Ali was capable of.

After an unsuccessful showing in the sound category from its PlayStation counterpart, Knockout Kings 2001 once again was very uneven when it came to the overall product. The commentary from Max Kellerman, Al Bernstein and Teddy Atlas seemed repetitious, and never really got me going. The boxer theme songs were there, but very faintly. However, after touching gloves, the punches and jabs definitely made you feel like you were ringside. And Mills Lane made his cameo appearance with his ever so famous 'Let's get it on!'

The same great features that were in the PlayStation One version are all back for another round. This includes the modes of Exhibition, Slugfest, Career, and Fantasy Match-up, all with the 50 great boxers that EA Sports provided. Exhibition is a realistic boxing match, while Slugfest has more an arcade feel. The Fantasy Match-up lets you fight with greats of today and yesterday in an all out brawl for the role of Greatest of All Time. Finally, the Career mode has you create a boxer, take them through a series of workouts and boxcar fights, with each victory getting you one step closer to the Championship Belt. All the while, you'll be earning points after each fight, which helps attain better performance for the next fight.

When playing around with the non-Career modes, you can fight with anyone in a number of different venues, including some created sites made by EA Sports. As for the fights themselves, make sure to work the body as well the head, because your opponents will be quick to attack your weaknesses when you're not looking. Things I didn't realize from the earlier version were the different types of combinations you can do with the four fighting styles allotted: Boxing, Slugger, Freestyle, and Crab Style. All in all, if you liked the gameplay from the PSX One game, you'll like this one too.

If you mastered the earlier version, you will find KK 2001 no different. The difficulty is completely the same with the levels of Easy, Normal and Hard. You still can change variables like the number of rounds, how many times you can knock someone down in a round, and many, many others.

With the graphics being as touched up as they were, the toll it took was on the loading time. Knockout Kings 2001 was constantly loading, which can be quite bothersome. On the good side, however, the controller configuration was very much the same thing as the PSX One version. That means plenty of different combinations that can be accomplished with an easy control setting. Also, only a very slight portion of the memory card is used up, so there is no worry about that at all.

Pound for pound, Knockout Kings 2001 definitely did well for it's first time in the PS2 ring, and I certainly see a successful future if this continues to grow. I do wish that the earlier flaws could have been fixed for the PS2, but hopefully it will get better for years to come.