PunchOut!!! The Real Installation...

Step 5 Try and abandon terrible cheap controllers.

get your controller out and start trying to make it work... then vainly realize that you've destroyed one already, try again on another, and vainly realize that the controller itself is designed very strangely and abandon all hope with these ones (after a couple hours)... P.S. these controllers were 8 euro each, so it's not such a hit to break them and forget about them.