Vasily Lomachenko is one of the latest boxers added to the ESBC roster. (Photo by Richard ... [+]
We’d seen some gameplay and an episode of the roster reveal for eSports Boxing Club. Still, on Easter Sunday, Steel City Interactive unleashed their second wave fighters who have agreed to appear in eSports Boxing Club when it launches this summer.
DAZN’s Todd Grisham again hosted the second episode, and it revealed 39 new fighters and five trainers. The fighters shown include former world champion Vasyl Lomachenko and, for the first time, women’s boxers.
Steel City swung for the fences with the inclusion of pound-for-pound queen Claressa Shields and others. In addition to women’s pro boxers, Lomachenko, and recently retired legends of the sport, there are also a small group of crossover fighters from other combat sports.
That list is topped by MMA great Cris Cyborg.
Here is the complete list of fighters included in episode 2.
Men
- Vasyl Lomachenko
- Marcos Maidana
- Vinny Pazienza
- Ray Mancini
- Frank Bruno
- Marco Antonio Barrera
- Erik Morales
- Nonito Donaire
- Viddal Riley
- Patrick Teixeira
- Sergio Martinez
- Anthony Mundine
- Billy Dib
- Lucas Browne
- Daniel Geale
- Badou Jack
- Wilfredo Mendez
- John Reil Casimero
- Sergei Kovalev
- Joe Smith, Jr.
- David Lemieux
- Paulie Malignaggi
- Diego Corrales
- George Kambosos, Jr.
Women
- Claressa Shields
- Jessica McCaskill
- Cecilia Braekhus
- Jelena Mrdjenovich
- Heather Hardy
- Chantelle Cameron
- Franchon Crews Dezurn
- Terri Harper
- Seniesa Estrada
- Alicia Napoleon Espinosa
- Sulem Urbina
Crossover Combat Sports Stars
- Cris Cyborg
- Badr Hari
- Florian Marku
- Cedric Doumbe
Trainers
- Eddy Reynoso
- Brian McIntyre
- Joel Diaz
- Robert Garcia
- Buddy McGirt
Steel City has not scanned all of the fighters on this list have been scanned into the game. Also, it is unclear if each fighter will be included when the title launches (presumably on Steam Early Access initially). Some may be a part of DLC packages.
Steel City has two scan sites: one in Sheffield, England, and another in Los Angeles. It's undoubtedly a chore to get fighters in for the session during the pandemic, but as you can see from the initial look at gameplay, the results look promising.
During the most recent reveal, Grisham teased ESBC to unveil a megastar as part of the next episode's roster. We don't know for sure; it feels a lot like a Canelo Alvarez announcement is forthcoming.
At this point, few other fighters who haven't been announced would make a bigger splash. Because of Alvarez's deals with DAZN and ESBC's connections to the network, it would only make sense for him to be involved.
If Alvarez is confirmed, I'd expect him to be the game's cover athlete or at least one of them.
The first look at gameplay has been viewed 630,000 times on YouTube, and the second reveal, which has only been live for a day as of the publishing of this article, has 60,000 views.
The first reveal, which is now two weeks old, has 83,000. The consumption of ESBC online content appears to have hit a serious uptick. Now it’s time for a solid release date and some more extended gameplay footage.
