ArcadeOverview
Heavyweight Champ (not to be confused with the 1987 game of the same name) is a side-view boxing game developed and released by Sega for arcades on October 1976.
The earliest known video game of the sport, Heavyweight Champ has two players fighting each-other as their side's boxer, earning points with each successful punch. Each player has control of a single lever, which is shaped like a boxing glove.
Along with being the first known boxing game, it is also identified as the first game to include a form of hand-to-hand combat in general. It is also considered to be a lost video game, with no known arcade hardware of it remaining and no preservation of any kind (although some images and rare footage of the game in action has surfaced).
The game's name, as well as a similar use of hand levers, were later used for a spiritual successor in 1987.
