EA lays out Fight Night 3 details

Few boxers show the results of "The Sweet Science" on their faces like Arturo "Thunder" Gotti and "Irish" Micky Ward, two gritty welterweights who tend to block punches with their heads. The two have hooked up for three recent epic fights and will be showing their battered faces again for a new audience.

EA has announced that the two boxers will be featured on the retail box art of the third installment in the Fight Night franchise for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game is being developed by EA's Chicago studios and is scheduled for release in February 2006 on both platforms.

Today, Fight Night Round 3 was also officially announced for the Xbox 360 and PSP. However, both versions will sport a different pugilist from the current-gen editions as cover athlete. EA will reveal the fighter(s) in question at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next month. No further information on the PSP and Xbox 360 versions of the game, including release date or rating information, was disclosed.

Though the games' releases are a way off, the punching has begun on the Web, where EA has released a teaser site for the game as an undercard. Details are slim, but a trailer featuring Bernard Hopkins duking it out with Roy Jones Jr. shows off the game's new graphics.

In a statement released today, EA made no mention of the PlayStation 3 version of the slugger, which made headlines at this year's E3 for its technical demo included in Sony's press conference.