Boxing on the Wii

If you've tried the boxing game that comes with the Nintendo Wii video game console, you know that it's extraordinarily unrealistic. It's nowhere near as good as the Wii bowling, or even the tennis. Yes, you actually throw punches, using a wireless controller in each hand, but the action on the screen barely seems to correlate with your spastic movements. You can't see an opening and throw a strategic left hook that scores. It's mostly just chaos. A more realistic boxing game for the console is not imminent. EA Sports, which has spent centuries making its Fight Night boxing game realistic, doesn't even know what to do with the Wii. [clarification: they have a Madden football game but don't know how to do boxing on it yet.]

But there is a cool feature where you can design characters that are supposed to look like yourself, and put them in the games. I made one of a particular famous boxer (above right). Can you guess who he is? Alright already, it's Oscar De La Hoya. And he's a very good bowler.

Someone has developed Wii boxing gloves. You slip the wireless controllers into little pouches in the $22 gloves, along with your hands, and then it seems like you're wearing gloves and punching the air while you play, which you are.

In the news: In the El Paso Times, Matthew Aguilar compares the strengths of Miguel Cotto and Zab Judah -- and picks Cotto to win their fight Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. For his part, Zab Wants Fans to Behave, George Willis writes in the New York Post.