A Long-Form Editorial on Fake “Sim Rules,” Misguided Gatekeepers, and Why Real Boxing Knowledge Should Never Be Treated as Dangerous
Scroll through boxing videogame communities today, and you’ll run into posts like the “SIM EXPLOITS / RULES OF ENGAGEMENT” image — a list of prohibited actions that reads less like boxing strategy and more like a desperate attempt to duct-tape a broken game into behaving like the real sport.
Rinse and repeat combinations? Illegal.
Excessive movement? Illegal.
Leaning? Dodging? Feinting? Illegal.
Switching stances? Illegal.
Defense? Illegal unless done in pre-approved quantities.
Not one item on that list reflects the real sport of boxing. Not one.
If anything, the list exposes something much more uncomfortable:
players are trying to regulate each other because the game itself lacks the systems to regulate boxing naturally.
What should be solved through design, stamina, balance, footwork physics, risk-reward, ring generalship, and AI adaptation instead becomes a community policing problem, where any behavior that doesn’t fit a slugfest template gets labeled “cheese,” “spam,” or “exploit.”
And the most alarming part?
People spreading real boxing knowledge are treated like a threat.
Let’s talk about that.
REAL BOXING FUNDAMENTALS ARE BEING PUNISHED BECAUSE THE GAME CAN’T HANDLE THEM
When a game’s mechanics fail to simulate reality, the community often turns boxing itself into the villain. That’s exactly what’s happening.
Many of the “banned” actions are literally basic, foundational boxing concepts:
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Repeating successful combinations? Every boxer has bread-and-butter series.
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Using movement to avoid engagement? That’s called ring generalship.
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Slipping and leaning often? That’s defense.
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Jab heavy? That’s the sport’s most important punch.
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Stance switching? Plenty of modern boxers do it naturally.
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Body work in volume? That’s how you break down movers.
And let’s address the elephant in the room:
Boxers lean away from punches all the time.
Not for 10 seconds straight, frozen like a video game animation,
but in short, rhythmic, purposeful intervals, the way Ali, Roy Jones Jr., Floyd Mayweather, Willie Pep, and countless others have used for decades.
The problem isn’t the lean.
The problem is the game failing to replicate dynamic body positioning, recovery frames, balance shifts, and the natural return-to-center that real fighters perform instinctively.
Real boxing is fluid.
A boxing game that treats leaning as a “banned exploit” is admitting it cannot recreate fluidity.
That isn’t a player problem.
It’s a design problem.
STOP PRETENDING REAL BOXING KNOWLEDGE IS DANGEROUS
Here’s where it becomes truly bizarre:
The players who speak actual boxing truth are often targeted the hardest.
They get accused of:
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“Gatekeeping”
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“Trying to ruin the fun.”
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“Being too realistic.”
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“Expecting too much.”
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“Sweating a video game.”
But the only thing they’re guilty of is understanding the sport.
A community that treats realism like a threat becomes blind to its own decay.
If you were really a boxing fan, if you truly loved the sport, you’d want realism advocates to be outspoken. You’d want them pushing for authenticity. You’d want them fighting against shortcuts and half-measures.
Instead, too many people defend a broken system because they're comfortable with a broken car barely making it from A to B.
They’ve learned to normalize dysfunction:
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Shallow footwork
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Animation-locked defensive actions
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One-size-fits-all movement
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Fake stamina systems
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Predictable A.I.
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No risk-reward balancing
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No true body mechanics
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No tendencies or traits
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No dynamic damage modeling
And anyone who dares say “this isn’t boxing” becomes the problem.
No.
The design is the problem.
The silence is the problem.
And the fear of realism is the problem.
WHEN REALISM IS TREATED LIKE AN ENEMY, THE GENRE COLLAPSES
A boxing game dies when:
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Movement is punished
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Defense is restricted
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Angles are impossible
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Slipping is labeled “spam.”
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Body work is capped
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Style diversity is removed
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Footwork is minimized
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Leaning is banned
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Counterpunching is “broken.”
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Ring IQ becomes irrelevant
That’s not boxing — that’s arcade fighting pretending to be a simulation.
In a true sim:
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Repeated punches are counterable because timing shifts
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Runners slow down because body shots matter
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Leaning has recovery costs and stamina consequences
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Movement drains realistically
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Defense opens and closes windows dynamically
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Judges reward clean work, not animation loops
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Every boxer’s style creates unique interactions
When the systems are authentic, the game self-corrects.
You don’t need rules because the sport itself governs behavior.
But when the systems are shallow, the community steps in with fake boxing commandments, commandments that punish real boxing instincts because the design can’t keep up.
THE FINAL TRUTH: REAL BOXING FANS SPEAK UP BECAUSE THEY CARE
Real boxing fans are not the problem.
Experienced boxers are not the problem.
People advocating for realism are not the problem.
The problem is a culture that treats realism as something unwanted or dangerous, a culture that would rather silence knowledgeable voices instead of demanding that the game improve.
If a game is truly built on love for boxing, it should welcome:
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criticism
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accuracy
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strategy
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honest feedback
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people who know the sport
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people who love the sport enough to demand better
Because ignoring those voices doesn’t protect the game,
it seals its fate.
The genre moves forward only when real boxing is treated with respect, not when it’s reduced to a list of “banned moves” because a game engine can’t handle the truth.
Boxing deserves better.
The fans deserve better.
And the sport deserves to be represented, not restricted.
