Knockout Kings 2002 features a different engine than its predecessors, as it now features smoother graphics and a new control scheme, which allows boxers to move around the ring much fluidly, as well as a new analog evasion system, where tilting the left analog stick slightly allows a boxer to bob or weave in the direction of the stick's movement.
Like its predecessors, Knockout Kings 2002 features a career mode, where players create a boxer and partake in a series of fights to become champion. For the first time, players can use a real boxer in the mode. The game also features a tournament mode.
Unlike Knockout Kings 2001 before it, the game forgoes female boxers, instead featuring some fictional boxers including, but not limited to, Henri Tibualt, Joe Giere, Kazahiro Arikawa, Tyler Brooks, Pete Donohue, and Lawrence O'Toole. These boxers would later be featured in the GameCube-exclusive Knockout Kings 2003.
