Sierra Championship Boxing — build a fighter, then watch him get hit Runs here
1985 · Dave Murry and Barry Murry / Sierra On-Line · System 6 · Mini vMac (Mac Plus) · 512×342 black and white
Guide updated September 2026
The game opens on a ringside ticket stub — Admit Two, Row 3, Seat 18 — with the date printed on it, and behind that a boxing ring drawn in perspective with a crowd. It is a nice piece of framing for what is underneath, which is as much a management simulation as a fighting game.
You define a boxer by attributes — reach, power, chin, stamina, style — and then the fight plays out according to those numbers and the tactics you pick between rounds. It is closer to a tabletop sports simulation than to an arcade game, which was Sierra's intention.
Boots to the ringside title screen. Set up fighters from the Options menu, then start a bout.
Controls
| Mouse | Menus, fighter setup and between-round tactics |
| Options menu | Create and edit boxers, and choose the matchup |
| Between rounds | Change tactics — this is where the game is played |
Sierra's catalogue is now with Activision Blizzard, which still exists. No current Sierra product contains the 1985 Macintosh build and it has not been purchasable in about thirty-five years.
Archives
- Internet Archive — the Macintosh floppy this copy was made from.
How it works & what to expect
| Machine | Macintosh Plus, 512×342, black and white |
|---|---|
| System | The floppy's own — this disk carries the System it shipped with |
| Emulator | Mini vMac, compiled to WebAssembly |
| Saves | Fighters save inside the emulated Mac, in your browser |
You are not controlling punches. The fight resolves itself from the two fighters' attributes and the tactical instructions you give between rounds, and the animation is a readout rather than an input.
The application is named "SIERRA CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING" on the floppy. The boot blocks that name a disk's startup program hold fifteen characters, so on this copy the file is called "SIERRA CHAMPION" — nothing else was altered.
Why it is remembered
Sierra before the adventure games took over. In 1985 Sierra On-Line was publishing a much wider range than its reputation suggests, and its sports and simulation titles have largely vanished from the record. This is one of them.
The Murry brothers. Dave and Barry Murry wrote a string of games across the eight-bit era and into the Macintosh; Championship Boxing is their best-known and the one that got the Sierra name on the box.
Simulation over reflexes. Choosing a boxing game that you manage rather than play was an unusual call in 1985, when everything else with boxers in it was a button-masher.
Getting started
Build a fighter before you fight one. The defaults are generic and the attribute editor is where the interesting decisions are.
Do not max out power. A heavy puncher with no stamina loses in the later rounds to almost anything, which is the simulation working correctly.
Change your tactics between rounds based on what is happening, not on what you planned. The between-round screen is the only input the game really wants from you and ignoring it is how you lose.
Questions people ask
Do I control the punches?
No. You build the fighter and set tactics between rounds; the fight resolves from those and the animation shows you the result.
Can I create my own boxers?
Yes, from the Options menu, and they save inside the emulated Macintosh.
Is it in colour?
No. This is the 1985 Macintosh release, black and white at 512×342.
Why is the file named oddly?
The boot blocks that name a disk's startup program hold fifteen characters, so the application's long name was shortened. Nothing else was changed.
Who published it?
Sierra On-Line, in 1985, written by Dave and Barry Murry.
Is it related to Sierra's adventure games?
Only by publisher. Sierra's 1985 catalogue was far broader than the adventures it is remembered for.
Put Sierra Championship Boxing on your own site
Free, no permission needed and no account. Paste this where you want the machine to appear; it brings its own emulator and asks nothing of your page.
<iframe src="https://macemu.com/embed/sierra-championship-boxing/"
width="512" height="342"
style="border:0;max-width:100%"
allowfullscreen
title="Sierra Championship Boxing"></iframe>Sized to this title's real screen. How embedding works.
