“You gotta knock that f***er on his ass!” our trainer barked into our fighter’s face. “Knock that f***er on his ass,” our puncher quietly repeated to himself as he stood up from his corner and readied for the next round.

Wait, did we just hear the f-word…twice? This is a Fight Night game, isn’t it?

Yep, it’s Fight Night all right — “Round 5” of the ground-breaking boxing sim, in fact — though EA’s dropped the numbered naming convention and is instead labeling this one Champion. And it’s the first-ever Mature-rated professional sports game. (Well, except for Midway’s Blitz: The League titles, but since they didn't include real-life athletes, we're not counting them.) EA’s done the “in the ring” experience for a while, and now they’re ready to tackle the world of boxing outside the ring, à la ESPN’s excellent 30 for 30 television series.

If this sounds a bit like 2K’s decent Prizefighter boxing game from a couple years ago, you’re not far off the mark. Fear not, though: the core gameplay is much better in Fight Night than it was in Prizefighter, and for Champion it’s still getting plenty of attention. Interestingly, gameplay producer Brian Hayes tells us that, based on gameplay data they logged from Round 4, more left hooks and jabs were thrown more than any other punch. They discovered that it’s simply easier for the right thumb to go that way on the right thumbstick than it is to pull back across the hand for right-handed punches. It makes sense when you think about it.

Thus, no more sweeping stick motions are required in Champion. Instead, simply tapping the stick in any direction will execute a certain kind of punch. However, if you still prefer to rock the arcs as in Rounds 3 and 4, you can; the game will recognize them. Even the face buttons are supported at all times. All three control methods are available simultaneously, so the decision falls to you for how you want to fight. Blocking has also been tweaked; you can now hold RT and still throw punches. Just don’t cower behind your gloved defense forever or else the judges won’t give you many points on the scorecard. No points, no win.

As for that new, profanity-friendly mode? So far, EA’s mostly keeping it under wraps, but we know it will involve fighting your way through the prison circuit against a bunch of unsavory tattooed types who deserve the gloveless beat-down you’ll hand them. Like Mike Tyson circa 1992, perhaps?