Midway has proven itself to be a heavyweight when it comes to arcade-style sports games, with heavy-hitting titles like NFL Blitz and NBA Showtime proving that it can walk the walk as well as talk the talk. Now Midway is bringing its popular Ready 2 Rumble franchise to Game Boy Advance, complete with a 3D rotating ring and 11 boxers bursting with attitude.

If you're familiar with the Nintendo 64 version of this game, you'll probably be surprised to see that the Game Boy Advance graphics come very close to the sharp visuals found in the N64 version. The music isn't a vast improvement over what we've heard on Game Boy Color, but crystal-clear voice samples from Michael Buffer sound fantastic.

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 features three modes of play:

Arcade -- Pick your boxer and enter the ring for instant gratification.

Championship -- This is the most rewarding mode of play. This mode lets you take a boxer from complete obscurity to the top of the world. Between bouts you can train your boxer by playing creative gym-based mini-games, or you can spend some of your prize money on expensive vitamins and mass-building amino acids. Making it to the top takes dedication, determination, and thumbs of steel!

Survival -- In this mode, you must face one boxer after another with no break in between. Since you never get an energy refill, it's wise to use one of your beefy boxers from the Championship mode. It takes a lot of training to endure a beating like you'll find in Survival.

Once you get down to business in the ring, you'll find that Ready 2 Rumble is the polar opposite of a boxing sim. The game features insane punch combos and ultra-flashy knock-out blows. Each time you hit your opponent, you build up your "RUMBLE" meter. When the meter is maxed out, you can unleash a flurry of punches which will leave your opponent seeing stars.

While the action can feel a bit repetitive at times, we were happy to see that Ready 2 Rumble didn't mutate into a button-masher in its hand-held form. If you don't block and time your punches correctly, you'll find yourself flat on your back.