This is sk88z hanging out with the Fight Night Round 4 Community Leaders and we just finished a morning workout at Griffin’s Boxing Club where trainer Dave Brett put our fight fans through the paces.  Now these guys knew to bring their gym gear, but they had no idea of what was to come.

Dave put these guys though a full workout showing them the ropes and working on their boxing technique.  They all paired up and worked the heavy bag and began to work up a sweat.

Following a couple of laps around the track, they worked on their footwork and some more combination punches.

Enter “Sugar” Shane Mosley and Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora to the surprise and delight of the now pretty-sweaty crew.

Not only did the gang get a chance to take some pictures with the boxers, we pulled three lucky contenders to do some sparring with The Contender Champion, Sergio Mora.

First up, Demetrius “POETICDRINK2U” Egerton relived his boxing years and went toe-to-toe and definitely held his own.  A former boxer, he got his punches in at the same time taking a few quick ones from Mora.

Next up was Mandy “ladyluck34” Paez who got in the ring and traded punches with Mora and put on a great show as well.

Finally, Jacob “Complex” Walker got his 3 :30 second rounds in and slipped in a few punches as well to the surprise of Mora…who then let everyone know with a flurry of punches who the pro in the ring really was.

Just when Mora thought he was done, producer Brian “Brizzo” Hayes got in the ring and put Mora through his paces.

It’s been a fun start to the day so far.  We’re just having some lunch right now and will be on our way back to EA Canada next.  Stay tuned for more…

by Alain “sk88z” Quinto

The first time I experienced a Community Event was during the production of NHL 08 and I worked with Marcus Stephenson, former Community Manager now turned NBA Live Producer, to put together one of EA Canada’s first events.  I recall embracing the idea because it really was an excellent chance for the development team to hear what our fans (and detractors) had to say about our games.  It was quite something to see the open communication between the makers of the game and the players of the game and it just made sense to put something like this into practice with all our titles.

Here I am, two years later and though some things remain the same, other things are bound to evolve and change with the times.  Next week, I’m inviting you all to join us during our Fight Night Round 4 Community Event as we fly-in gaming fans from all over North America to get a first look at one of the most anticipated titles of the year.

Our EA SPORTS World team will be in full force twittering, blogging, and posting videos from the event to share with you as much as we can (or at least, as much as we’ll be allowed to! ;) and to share the experience with you at home.  From our first meeting with the Community Leaders on Sunday evening through our tour of EA Canada and the Motion Capture studio, we’ll give you an inside look like we’ve never done before.

A number of Community Leaders will also have an opportunity to provide feedback they’ve collected from their respective networks followed by the first consumer look at an early build of the game, slated to be released this summer.  Following the Event, EA SPORTS World and the Community Leaders will be able to create their early reviews on what they’ve seen in the game and will release their information on their sites in time leading to the ship of the game.

We’ve got a lot of fun things planned and I’m really looking forward to bringing together some of the more vocal gamers in our boxing and gaming communities.  If you have some feedback or questions you would like to share during the day, make sure you follow us on twitter or leave us comments on our blogs and videos on the Inside EA SPORTS Blog.  Keep your finger on refresh!

For links to follow us, check out Raczilla’s 5 Reason’s to Be Here on Monday blog.