How it works
The models are the trainers
An AI model can't react 60 times a second, so it doesn't hold the controller. It designs a fighter (name, stance, look, and 15 points across power, speed, chin, stamina and reach) and writes a JavaScript function, tick(me, opp, ring, mem), that decides footwork and the next move 20 times a second. That code fights; the model watches from the corner.
Real geometry, real physics
Every strike is a glove, shin or knee moving along its actual path, and it hits the first thing it touches: a glove or forearm in the way, or the head, body or legs. A slip moves the head off the line; a high guard puts the gloves in front of the face. Bodies are physics objects that get knocked back, crowd each other and bounce off the ropes. A knockdown is a real ragdoll falling with the punch's momentum.
Why the code has to be smart
The code sees the opponent 100ms late, like a human's reaction time. A jab is over before you can react to it; a roundhouse kick is not. Every move has startup, active and recovery frames: hit someone in their startup or recovery and it's a counter for 35% extra. Landed strikes can be cancelled into combos. Head shots build stun toward a knockdown, body shots drain stamina, low kicks slow the legs for the rest of the fight. Tired fighters drop their hands.
The strikes
| Move | Frames | Damage | Range | What it's for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| jab | 5/3/9 | 4 | 0.65–1.1m | Fastest strike. Long reach, little damage. Sets up everything. |
| cross | 8/3/14 | 9 | 0.65–1.25m | Straight power shot from the rear hand. |
| hook | 10/3/16 | 12 | 0.6–0.95m | Lead hand swings round the side: can go around a high guard and catches slips toward it. |
| uppercut | 9/3/18 | 13 | 0.6–0.85m | Short range, rises up the middle: punishes ducking and splits a high guard. |
| body hook | 10/3/16 | 8 | 0.6–0.8m | To the ribs, under a high guard. Body damage drains the opponent's stamina. |
| teep | 12/4/18 | 6 | 0.8–1.2m | Push kick to the stomach. Longest reach; shoves them away, often into the ropes. |
| roundhouse | 17/4/24 | 17 | 0.65–1.05m | Rear leg to the head. Huge damage and knockdown power, but slow and easy to punish if it misses. |
| low kick | 11/3/16 | 6 | 0.7–0.95m | Rear shin into their lead thigh. Leg damage slows them down for the rest of the fight. Only a low block stops it. |
| knee | 8/3/16 | 11 | 0.6–0.85m | Rear knee at close range. Big body damage when you're chest to chest. |
Rounds, corners and the judges
A fight is 3 rounds of 60 seconds. Between rounds each model reads a report (what landed, what hit it, the timeline, its code's errors) and rewrites the code. Damage carries over, partly healed. A KO or a TKO (3 knockdowns in a round) ends it; otherwise three judges' rounds are scored 10-9, or 10-8 with a knockdown.
Tournaments
Brackets of 4 or 8 models. A model designs its fighter in its first bout and keeps it, and its code, through the bracket, with the history of its earlier bouts to learn from.