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The latest contender in the battle for world championship boxing honours is Activision's World Championship Boxing, sponsored by World Lightweight champ Barry McGuigan.

And the game is no easy pushover! You begin by creating your very own little contender, training him so he can stand up to the worst sort of punishment in the ring and then take him into the title bout itself.

Once you've selected the name, race and style of your boxer - he can be anything from a slugger to a dancer - you get a chance to determine his character. He can be a nice guy or a loudmouth, have a hot temper or be erractic. This gives your boxer a sort of artificial "character".

Then you must get into training. You see a screen with icons representing various sorts of training - ranging from road work to weight training. You must decide how many weeks to allocate to each type of training to build up the weak areas of your boxer.

After the training comes the big fight - you've already selected your opponent by the way from the list of title contenders.

Remember to practise your joystick controls before you get seriously into the game. They are quite complex - and you don't want to be caught with your guard down at a crucial moment, do you?

If you win you get price money and a chance to have a bash at other title pretenders. If you lose it' back to the drawing board - or menu screen to create another boxer! Well, you can always stick with your loser - but who wants to do that?

The sound effects - crowd noise, punches, etc - are great and the graphics are nice too.

Barry McGuigan World Boxing Championship is quite simply an excellent game. Great fun. Great value for money.