Expanded Career | Bruisers: The Undercard

Before the bell

How the switches work

Nothing on this page that changes how a career plays is forced on you. Turn on what you want, leave the rest.

Read this first

Mod Settings

Open Options > Mod Settings from the main menu. Each addition below has its own row, named here exactly as it is in the menu, like this:

Weight divisionsDisabled >Weight divisions< Enabled

Off to start: every switch that changes a career starts off. Flip them on or off whenever you like, even mid-career.
Settings for each career: the top row, SETTINGS FOR, picks whose settings you're changing. DEFAULT covers the main menu, Quick Play, Online and every career without its own. Pick one of your careers and change anything, and that career gets its own settings (a copy of DEFAULT with your change), used whenever it's loaded. So one career can have the full business while another plays it straight.
CAREER PLUS, for the lot: the row under SETTINGS FOR switches on the full modded career in one go (the fight rules, the Pugilist set to HUMAN, divisions, promoters, tournaments, press conferences, ring walks for big fights, the fight camp and the rest) for whichever settings you're changing. While it's on, those rows are greyed and held; switch it off and they go back to what you had. It's best from a new career, on Pugilist: Elites.
Tick the mod too: Fight Business, Tournaments and Press Conferences are their own mods in the installer, and their switches only show up when they're installed. They're all ticked as standard.
Each row explains itself: highlight a setting and its description shows at the bottom of the menu. Hold up or down to scroll, or use LB/RB (L1/R1) to jump a page.

No switch needed

Always in your corner

These don't change how a career plays, so they're simply there. They give you more to look at, more to do between fights, and a record of it all.

Know your man

Fighter profiles

Every man on the pro rankings now has a past. Highlight one on the fight list and press X / Square for his profile, before you decide whether to take the fight. Already booked? Select any man on the career hub's champions and contenders list to see his profile there too, or press Start for your own.

Profile: his age, height, weight, style, record, win rate, purse and skills, the belts he holds and how many defences, and what's happened between the two of you.
Fights: his whole bout history, newest first: who, when, how it ended and in which round, and which were title fights. It matches his record, all the way back to before your career began. Select a fight for its fight card; one against you shows your full card.
Titles: the line of champions for each belt, year by year, so you can see who held it before him.
A living ladder: CPU records move now. Beat the champion and he wears the loss. The fights between other men go on his history too, so the rankings have a story of their own.

The Statistics screen for a new career: the RECORD tab with pro, amateur and bare knuckle records, knockouts, title defences, fans and honours

A fuller record
coming soon

Your story

Information

The career hub's Information row holds two things: the Archive, every newspaper headline about your fighter for the whole career, and your Statistics.

Record: your pro, amateur and bare knuckle records, knockouts, title defences, fans and honours, from belts to medals.
Punches: what you've thrown and landed, added up across your fights.
Bout history: every fight you have from now on, with the opponent, the result, how and when it ended, and what was on the line. Select one for its fight card: the date, both men's records, how it ended and your punches, plus the weigh-in weights, fight weight and purse for fights from this update on.
Divisions: with Weight divisions on, your division shows on your Statistics, his on his profile, and every pro fight is tagged with the division it was in.

The gym

Sparring & the heavy bag

The gym's fifth option, Sparring (Camp with the fight camp on), gives you two ways to get rounds in without it counting.

Sparring: one three-minute round in headgear against a light, even or heavy partner built from your own skills. It ends at the first knockdown, and it trains Grit, the one skill nothing else in the gym does. It costs energy and weight like any session.
Heavy bag: free practice with your normal fight controls. Punches land exactly as they would on a man, so you can drill combinations until they're second nature. No energy, no day, no cost. It counts what you throw and land, head and body, and keeps your best combo.
Nothing carries over: your record, ranking, health and next opponent are put back exactly as they were.

The casino

Betting

Amateurs and bare knuckle fighters can bet on their own fights, not just pros. Y / Triangle on the betting screen opens a weekly card of four fights between ranked men, with odds, settled once the week moves on.

Downtime

Relax

Relax on the career hub hides the menus and shows your room full screen, with a music bar to flick through every song in the game. No day passes and nothing changes. It's the room you live in, so a new flat shows here too.

The Global Hall of Fame showing a retired fighter's plaque

Legacy

The Hall of Fame

When it's all over, the plaque tells the whole story.

Belts and medals: every title a fighter won, not just the ones he held at the end, plus tournament titles and medals, and a line for a two-, three- or four-weight world champion.
Global Hall of Fame: inducted fighters are posted online, for everyone to browse under UNDERCARD and to fight in Quick Play.
One more go: from the Hall of Fame on the main menu, a retired fighter can come out of retirement: the age he left at, the bottom of the pro rankings, his skills as they were. He wears down faster now, and time catches up with everyone. His plaque gets a COMEBACK line when it ends.

Fight Business · pro careers

The business of boxing

Four switches that turn the pro game into a business: who you fight, for how much, at what weight, and who's making the calls. Use any of them on their own, or all four together.

A contract panel for a fight with Shaun Ivesham: offer 1 of 3, his standard purse, and rows for your purse, rounds, rematch clause, rehydration clause, fight weight and send offer

NegotiationEnabled

Negotiation

Pick a man on the fight list and you choose: sign on his standard terms, exactly as the game would book it, or negotiate.

Make an offer: your purse, the number of rounds (outside title fights) and a rematch clause. You get three offers at most.
Leverage: your ranking, belts and fans against his. The more you have on him, the more he'll give.
His reply comes by email: he signs, he counters, or he walks. A first offer never makes him walk, but a silly one gets a cold answer. Talks still open show as NEGOTIATIONS on the hub.
Walking away: if he walks you lose some fans; if you walk you don't. Either way he won't deal with you for your next fight.
Rematch clause: lose to him, and any of your next three fights can be the rematch, on the same terms.
Catchweights: with Weight divisions on too, below heavyweight and outside title fights, a FIGHT WEIGHT row lets you ask for the fight up to 6 lb over the limit. Every 2 lb is a little more to ask of him.

Fight morning

Under 5 lb over: fine
5 lb over: 20% of a purse
10 lb over: fight off

Rehydration clauseEnabled

Rehydration clause

Making weight is one thing. Staying close to it on fight morning is another. Come in 5 lb or more over the limit and you're fined 20% of a purse and lose your weigh-in edge. 10 lb over and the commission calls the fight off.

Both ways: it holds him to it as well, and if he's the one over, it's him who pays.
A contract term: with Negotiation on it's a row on the contract, to put in or leave out. Without Negotiation, every pro fight has it.

The Weight Division panel: super middleweight 161 to 168 lb, light heavyweight 169 to 175, cruiserweight 176 to 200 marked as yours, and heavyweight 200 lb and up

Weight divisionsEnabled

Weight divisions

Four pro divisions, each with its own rankings and its own three belts: super middleweight (168 lb), light heavyweight (175), cruiserweight (200) and heavyweight.

Pick one in the creator for a new career. Existing careers are heavyweights, as the game made them.
Fight at the limit: below heavyweight, every career fight (amateur, bare knuckle and pro) is at your division's limit, so you'll be cutting weight every camp. Your division and its limit show on the career screen. Heavyweight works as the game does.
Move up or down with L1 on the fight list. You start lower in the new rankings, and any belts you hold stay behind for the men you left.
The other divisions carry on: men there keep fighting, ageing, retiring and swapping belts while you're away, so a division you go back to has moved on. Press left / right on the champions and contenders list to look at any division's rankings.
A roster for each division: in the roster editor (Options > Roster), LB/L1 steps through the heavyweight (the game's own career roster), cruiserweight, light heavyweight and super middleweight rosters, then Quick Play's fighters. A division's rankings take its roster's names, looks and skills when they're made: a new career's starting division, and any other division the first time it's needed. Like the game's own roster, they're fresh every time the game starts unless you load one. SAVE ALL DIVISIONS puts all four in one file to share, and loading that file fills them all.
Multi-weight champion: win belts in two or more divisions and you're a two-, three- or four-weight world champion, with a letter to say so and a line on your plaque.

The Promoters panel: without a promoter you can book men 3 places above you and purses are 10% lower; Lenny 'Pencil' Malone interested, Maggie Reyes not yet, 'Flash' Reggie Diamond not yet, Tony 'Pockets' Ciccotti interested

Tony 'Pockets' Ciccotti's offer: Paulie's man, no fee but an advance out of your purses, books you anyone on the ladder, takes 20% of every purse, 10 fights

PromotersEnabled

Promoters

Without a promoter you can only book men 3 places above you, and your purses are 10% lower. Sign with one, from PROMOTERS (R1) on the fight list, and he gets you further up the ladder for a cut of every purse, for a run of fights.

Lenny 'Pencil' MaloneA small-time fixer with a phone full of numbers. Signs anyone. 8 places up, 10%, 4 fights, a small fee.

Maggie ReyesA respected regional outfit that plays it straight. Wants a top-45 man with a crowd. 15 places up, 15%, 6 fights. Drop under 4,000 fans and she drops you.

'Flash' Reggie DiamondBig fights, big lights, big mouth. Top 20 and 50,000 fans. The whole ladder, title shots from the top 5, bigger purses and crowds, and big-fight offers by email. 25%, 8 fights, a big fee.

Tony 'Pockets' CiccottiPaulie's man, if you're on good terms with Paulie. The whole ladder, 20%, 10 fights. No fee: an advance instead, paid back out of your purses. And Paulie gets to ask favours.

Every promoter has his own ways, and you'll learn them as you go. Leaving early costs money.

Amateur careers

Amateur tournaments

The amateur years get something to aim for. Turn on Amateur tournaments and the invitations start arriving.

The invitation: you've been picked for the World Championships 2027, sixteen of the world's best amateurs, four fights, last 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final, two days apart

An email from your trainer: you're on the team for the World Championships, with your first opponent in the last 16

Amateur tournamentsEnabled

Knockout tournaments

Every tournament is a knockout, with the fights two days apart. You start each fight on full health, but your injuries, energy and weight carry from one to the next, so the two days in between matter: eat, rest and make weight again. Lose and you're out.

The Molten MittsEvery year, from week 12, once you've 5 amateur wins. Eight men. Win it and the commission waives the pro licence's level 7 requirement.

World ChampionshipsThe years between the Olympics, from week 30, once you've 10 amateur wins. Sixteen men. Gold, silver and two bronzes. Gold waives level 7 too.

The Olympic GamesEvery fourth year. Sixteen tougher men, and you need a Worlds medal or a Molten Mitts title since the last Games to get in. Any Olympic medal brings the pro licence, free.

Make the papers: tournament fights make the front page, and the finals get a press conference if you've those switched on.
Kept for good: titles and medals go on your Statistics and your Hall of Fame plaque.
Say no: you can turn an invitation down if the timing's wrong.

Between fights

Life outside the ring

More to spend your purse on, and more ways to earn it.

The SPONSORS app: kit deals for gloves, shorts and boots, with a glove deal from Brawlco showing their colours, the fee per fight, win bonus, KO bonus, fights left and buy-out

Career: sponsorsEnabled

Property

A PROPERTY app in the computer's BRUISEAZON shop lists places to live, and wherever you live is the background of your career hub.

East Side Apartment: any time, for a $1,500 deposit and $150 a week.
Midtown Apartment: once you've gone pro. $5,000 deposit and $500 a week.
The Champion's Residence: once you've won a pro belt. $1,000,000, and it's yours for good.
Rent day: rent comes out at the start of each week. Short once and you're warned; short again and you're evicted, and the landlord keeps the deposit.
Your choice: going pro or winning a belt never moves you. Move out and the deposit comes back.

An email from your trainer: he can get hold of a tape of Shaun Ivesham's last fight, to see how he moves, for $350

Career: fight tapesEnabled

Fight tapes

Study your man before you meet him. Book a pro fight and your trainer emails: he can get hold of a tape of your opponent's last fight, for a fee of around 5% of your purse.

Buy it from the email and a FIGHT TAPE appears on your computer's desktop. Watch it as often as you like until fight night.
The real him: it's your opponent against a man from near his place on the ladder, boxing with the same brain and difficulty he'll bring against you.
Just a tape: nothing in it counts, and it's gone once the fight's done.

A press conference: two fighters at the table under the lights, with the keep-your-cool bar at the top and photographers in front

Press conferences (BETA)Active · Passive

Press conferences

Before title fights, elite fights, rivals and tournament finals, the two of you sit across a table and trade insults, straight after the weigh-in. Still being worked on.

Keep your cool (ACTIVE): read his insult, then the needle comes in under it: press while it's in the green. He has his own go too.
Or just watch (PASSIVE): it plays out by itself. His Heart keeps him steady, and you can skip to the outcome.
Eat properly: a fighter who hasn't been eating well is irritable, with a quicker needle and a shorter fuse.
Snap and it kicks off: you're fined out of your purse, and it's a 30-second scuffle live on UCBTV. A knockdown wins it, otherwise whoever landed more.
What's at stake: the winner has Heavy Hands in round 1, and you both carry a few knocks into the fight.

House rules

Shape your career

Set the pace of a career your way. These change the career itself rather than the fights.

Stat displayPips · Numbers

Stat display

Numbers: every skill shown as a number instead of pips. On the fight list his numbers are green where he's weaker than you and red where he's stronger, and the gym shows your progress as XP.

Licences unlockedNone · Pro · Bareknuckle · All

Licences unlocked

Careers own these licences without buying them, so you can move circuits when you like. You still start as an amateur. Turn it back down and a free licence is taken back, unless it's for the circuit you're on. Licences you bought are never touched.

Career round length1 · 2 · 3 min

Round length

How long each round of a career fight lasts. Longer rounds mean more time to finish him, and both men recover their wind to match, so the CPU still lasts the round.

Event guaranteeOff · 6 · 8 · 10 fights

Event guarantee

The game gives a 1 in 10 chance of a career event after each fight. Set a number and an event is sure to come within that many fights, in the game's own order.

AutotrainingOriginal · Boosted

Autotraining

Boosted: auto training in the gym gives about what doing the minigames well would, and twice that on the PED that helps that exercise.

Career: fight campOff

Fight camp

Pros with a fight booked: the gym's Sparring option becomes Camp, with sparring inside it and a fight camp: a trainer and nutritionist who run your week to Friday's weigh-in, one day at a time. Local gym: one session a day and plain food. Pro camp: two sessions, good food and a spar. Elite camp: every bit of your energy, the best food and two spars, a little short of what a skilled player gets doing it all by hand. Pick what it works on, or let the trainer balance it. Each day is a normal game day, so the checks, emails and tips all happen, and anything that needs you pauses it. It stops for Paulie's warnings about a urine test or kit check so you can read them, and it stops before it would eat into your rent or loan payment. It's paid day by day (a fee set by the size of your purse, and the food at cost), so stopping it, or the fight being called off, costs nothing more. Fight day is yours. Off to start (CAREER PLUS turns it on).

Sparring damageOff

Sparring damage

Sparring hurts like a real fight, a little less because of the headgear: anything it breaks stays broken, and your vitals take some wear. Every fight and every spar also adds to your mileage. Carry a lot of it and you're slower to recover between rounds. Over a long career it brings scar tissue, a weaker chin and an earlier decline. Weeks off sparring wear some of it off, and your trainer will tell you when you're overdoing it. Statistics shows your mileage. Off to start, and not part of CAREER PLUS while it's being tested.

The mobOriginal · Full

The mob

In the game, the mob mostly just takes. Full makes it work both ways. Keep them sweet and they'll look after you, and there's a FAVOURS app on the dark net for when you need something sorted, though every favour costs you. Fall out with them and they get even, in ways you'll find out the hard way. Paulie will let you know where you stand. Word gets around about which fights Paulie has money on, and if he asks you to take a dive, there's usually a price that makes him forget he asked. And if you've seen enough of how they work, the police would love a word, though nobody likes a rat. Pros only. Off to start (CAREER PLUS sets it to Full).

Ring deathsOff · Classic · Natural

Ring deaths

CPU fighters can die in the ring. Classic: only a man you keep beating on as he falls, and the referee may step in first. Natural: that, and a man who's taken a real beating can die from any knockdown. It's rare, but it can happen.

Under the lights

Fight rules

Switches for what happens in the ring. They work in career fights and in many of the other modes too, so the fights feel closer to the real thing.

Ring walksOff · Big fights · All

Ring walks

Before the announcer reads the names, the challenger walks to the middle of the ring with his card along the bottom (name, record, standing, belts), then the champion to a bigger cheer, then a moment face to face. Every fighter has his own way of walking in: Menace, Joker, Bouncy or Dancer. Pick yours on the career's colours screen (RING WALK); the CPU's men walk the way that suits them. To give any fighter a walk of your choice (a custom one in Quick Play, say), put a ringwalks.txt in the game's folder with a line for each, like Schitt Bagg = dancer. Off to start (CAREER PLUS sets it to Big fights). Big fights: title fights, elite fights, rivals, tournament finals and Quick Play. Any button skips it.

StoppagesOriginal · Realistic

Stoppages

The game's own stoppages are very rare. Realistic: refs step in after a shorter run of clean punches once two of their reasons are there, and the doctor checks a cut a little sooner. A hurt man who keeps taking punches, even blocked ones, without throwing anything back gets a FIGHT BACK! warning from the ref, and if he still won't, the ref stops it. Pushing a man doesn't count as beating him: a push starts the ref's counts again, and punches landed while he's being shoved back don't add to them.

ScorecardOriginal · Realistic

Scorecard

Realistic: when both men were down in a round, the one down more often loses it, 10-8, 10-7 or 10-6.

Knockdowns: stop the clockEnabled

Knockdowns

While a fighter's down the round clock stops and both men get their breath back. Hits on the way down make the count harder to beat.

Headbutt rulesOriginal · Realistic

Headbutts

Realistic: only headbutts the referee sees count, and he's slow to turn after crossing the ring. A warning, two point deductions, then a disqualification.

ReachOriginal · Height

Reach

Height: tall fighters reach further, while short ones hit harder inside and have quicker hands.

Style signaturesEnabled

Style signatures

Against Pugilist fighters and other players: Bully haymakers can't be stopped by a jab, Slick counters off a slip, and Balanced punches can't be jabbed out late.

CPU brain fixesEnabled

CPU brain fixes

CPU fighters box with their own brain, are groggy after a knockdown, and get a little health back when they beat the count.

Pugilist settingsFour rows

The Pugilist

Smart corner tells you which of your habits he's worked out. Realistic ring IQ makes each man as sharp as his level. Style: Human keeps him learning you, at a human pace. Strength tones him down, 100% to 50%.

The elite ladder

N.B. Bully (amateurs)
J Hardman James (amateurs)
The pro belt holder
Four ranked pros
Leonard Bloggs
The bare knuckle champion
Two bare knuckle men
The Avoided

New difficulty

Pugilist: Elites

A difficulty between Hard and Pugilist, picked where you pick the game's own. Most fights are on Hard, but a handful of the best men in the game box with the full Pugilist AI. They read your habits as the fight goes on, and their corner is watching you too.

You'll know: elites have a red asterisk by their name on the opponent lists and, once booked, on the career screen's next fight and opponent panels. Your trainer emails a warning before you face one.
No ducking it: once the bell goes against an elite, the difficulty can't be changed until the fight's over.

Final bell

Build your career

Download the mod Back to the card

Needs Windows or a Steam Deck, and the Steam version of Bruisers 2D Boxing. Questions or ideas? Come and say hello on Discord.