Boxing will finally make its return to the video game world after more than a decade of absence. Steel City Interactive released the first trailer of the game ‘Undisputed’ earlier this year, revealing the release date, platforms, cover athletes, and pre-order info. The game is all set to release on October 11 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Although the gameplay was showcased back in 2021, the game underwent several changes including a name change. In 2021, another announcement bolstered its release and popularity among boxing fans. The unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez was announced as its cover star.

Ten years after the last popular boxing game—EA Sports Fight Night, the trailer for Undisputed was released in May, featuring stars like Canelo Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Tyson Fury, and Oleksandr Usyk. The cover will feature Alvarez as the Standard Edition cover athlete and Fury as the Deluxe (WBC Edition) cover athlete. During the press run for his fight on Saturday, Canelo was asked about the upcoming release of the boxing game with his face on the cover. The champion was happy about the recognition despite the persistent curse dogging the cover stars.

It will be hard to defeat Canelo Alvarez

Ahead of his fight against Edgar Berlanga, DAZN Sports interviewed Alvarez about him being the cover star of the ‘Undisputed’. “In a couple of weeks, you are going to be on the cover of the first boxing game that’s come out in over 10 years. What’s your advice to the players who are fighting Canelo? What’s the blueprint to beat Canelo?” asked the interviewer. Alvarez was confident about the fact that it would be as hard to defeat him in the game as the real life. “No, it’s going to be hard for them to beat Canelo Alvarez in the game,” the champion answered confidently.

He also faced questions about the notorious curse of ‘Madden NFL’. Madden is an extremely popular NFL game by EA Sports. And almost every cover star of the game has suffered an injury or a decline in their performance after featuring on the cover. But the unified super middleweight champion was not at all worried about the curse. He was confident in his ability to defeat the curse and shrugged off any kind of superstition. “No, I know what I am and I am not superstitious at all,” claimed the champion cooly.

The Madden NFL curse has had a long-running streak of victims to its name. But that isn’t the only game known for carrying a curse on its cover stars. The EA Sports UFC series has also had a streak that is pretty mythical in its run. Let’s take a look at them.

Celebrated in the digital world = Doomed in the real world

The Madden curse began in 1999 when EA Sports started featuring NFL players on the cover instead of John Madden. Garrison Hearst, who appeared on the cover of Madden 99, suffered a severe ankle injury shortly after, and similar cases followed.

Notable examples include Daunte Culpepper (Madden 2002), who sustained a knee injury during a poor 2005 season, Michael Vick (Madden 2004), who broke his fibula in a preseason game, and Peyton Hillis (Madden 12), whose career declined after his appearance. However, in recent years, some players like Tom Brady (Madden 18) and Patrick Mahomes (Madden 20) have seemingly defied the curse, suggesting it may be losing its effect.

However, the EA Sports UFC game series’ cover curse is a more recent phenomenon. But it nevertheless follows a similar pattern. Ronda Rousey, who appeared on UFC 2’s cover in 2016, was knocked out by Holly Holm shortly before the game’s release, marking the beginning of her career decline. Conor McGregor, also on UFC 2’s cover, suffered an upset loss to Nate Diaz soon after the game’s release, although he later avenged it.

Anthony Pettis, the cover athlete for the first UFC game in 2014, lost his lightweight title and never regained his previous dominance. Similarly, Israel Adesanya and Jorge Masvidal, both featured on UFC 4’s cover in 2020, suffered major losses shortly afterward. While not every cover athlete has been affected, these high-profile examples have solidified the belief in these curses among fans of both the Madden NFL and UFC franchises.

What are your views about the Undisputed game based on its trailer? Do you think Canelo Alvarez is the next star awaiting his downfall from the curse? Or will he be the anomaly? Let us know down below.