Not a great improvement. EA values useless cosmetics over actual functional gameplay. Career mode is empty and hollow. You get a storyline in the first 5 minutes, are introduced to a coach, then you dont see him in a cutscene for the rest of your career until your title fight. In fact there are no other cutscenes, those are it. Online is fun, but the lack of any amazing ko mechanics, silly glitches and repetitive animations for every fighter make me lose interest.
EA went from a game like fight night, which had so much detail in the career and the roster it felt so real ...to this. In fight night every boxer had their unique animations, the mechanics were fluid and most importatly the sequels always felt like a huge step forward. Hopefully they revive the franchise or fix this one.