Mike Tyson's Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style - Fighting Tips - Street Fight Mentality & Fight Sport (2024)

Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style.

The boxing style of one of the most devastating boxers in the history of world boxing, Iron Mike Tyson!

Mike Tyson returned to the ring for a performance match with the super Roy Jones Jr. and it was great to see one of the heavyweights, not just as a weight, pro users of the peek-a-boo style.

Mike Tyson is certainly a boxer who has left not a mark but a gigantic groove in the history of boxing and is one of the best fighters who has ever worn boxing gloves.

Cus D’Amato (Cus was the son of Italian immigrants) is his first and historic trainer has built on his physical characteristics and also his limits in that weight category a strategy and technical adaptation to make him one of the most devastating boxers in the history of boxing.

Cus D’Amato is also known for developing the boxing technique called
Peek-a-Boo,
the offensive style we are talking about and in which the boxer keeps his hands high in front of his face and moves quickly.

The kid named Mike Tyson and impressed the old coach to make him exclaim:

“This guy will one day become world heavyweight champion if he maintains interest and desire for boxing.”

Cus never came to see Mike with the world champion belt.

He died on November 4, 1985 from pneumonia.

About a year later, Tyson lifted his belt to the sky.

In doing so, the first thought was for the man who had adopted him, who had taught him everything he knew about noble art, and to whom he had promised that one day he would become world champion.

Although someone can say something about Mike Tyson outside the ring but inside he was an athlete with incredible power, speed, explosiveness, a high-level technical defense, unique skill and a dedication and ethics to training as a great champion.

We’re talking about a real talent!

When Cus D’Amato saw the boy he immediately understood the potential and for a coach to have this talent is an incredible opportunity and Cus D’Amato could see why he formed 3 world champions, it was no accident.

Mike’s boxing technique is top notch though clearly particular but I recommend all fighters to do tests and train in this style to try this strategy even though his Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style (like many other boxing styles) has advantages and also limitations.

Like everything to make it work you have to train and you have to have characteristics and qualities to make it effective because it requires like any style of specific skills that a little must be trained but a little you have to own them as a person because the training does so much but up to a point.

What you can do is try to take the best of this style and adapt it to your characteristics, you can do this job with your coach if this style brings in you you have to strengths in combat or with some types of opponents.

I’m not against any style because for me there is no better or worse depends on whether that style makes your way of fighting effective and for Mike Tyson for example the Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style was perfect clearly it was not only mike’s boxing, but his combinations, footwork, precision, power, defensive skills, etc. clearly inserted into this style to make it devastating for opponents.

All boxing styles are basically a combat position, which allows you to more easily generate specific attack and defense movements and specific strategies but must always be something that makes your way of fighting effective that are enhanced by your physical characteristics.

Let’s see the advantages and disadvantages of Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Book boxing style.

Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Book boxing style but also applies to many other boxing styles, it is a series of positions, distance, footwork, combinations and strategies that together determine how a fighter attacks, defends himself, uses footwork in the ring.

It can also be a good strategy to use with certain opponents or to use it at certain times and junctures but like everything you have to feel comfortable, it must be something natural and that must be trained, at the focus, on the sack and in sparring.

Tyson’s peek-a-boo style can be a lot of fun to use in training or trying it out by sparring with friends but to use it in combat it really has to be yours or one of your styles also because it requires physical characteristics and also an energy expenditure that you need to know, learn how to manage and train.

Now before you make it your fighting style that of Mike Tyson, let’s go see the strengths and “weaknesses” of his style!

There are many reasons to use Tyson’s peek-a-boo style and I’m a person who likes to experiment and so I never have any prejudice with styles but as long as it’s something that brings an advantage to effectiveness and the way i fight, to put it another way, you don’t have to imitate Tyson’s peek-a-boo style because you’re a fan of him.

The benefits of Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style

Mainly you have three advantages in this style which are the way to close the distance, the pace of attack in “against time” and the defense that is always active.

All this creates a very aggressive but also energy-consuming combat approach but let’s go and see in detail the main advantages.

Close the distance

The peek-a-boo style is an aggressive, effective style to chase opponents and close the gap.

Peek-a-Boo’s guard position is squared and both hands are on the same line with powerful punches starting from both hands.

The very aggressive footwork almost on even foot helps you press and cut the ring in an aggressive way and this way of moving terrifies opponents when approaching distances in this way because it is a very aggressive approach because you see both loaded hands coming when you usually see the opponent arrive with a more conservative approach with studio or opening shots before heavy blows while instead in the Peek-a-Boo you see that they both approach hands loaded as if to finish the match immediately with a search for the KO at all costs.

If you’re not very tall the Peek-a-Boo style is for you

For those who aren’t that tall and often have to close the gap because opponents are usually taller, the Peek-a-Boo style is one of the best ways to put your opponent in trouble.

Although mike tyson is not low, about 1.83 cm but in heavyweights he was one of the smallest and Cus D’Amato was very clear how to use that physique combined with that style with the opponents of that time.

Mike didn’t betray his trainer’s expectations by becoming a predator in the ring and wiping out super-rated boxers and becoming the youngest maximum weight in history at just 18 years old.

The Peek-a-Boo style has many quick movements, fast-paced energy like a predator hunting, very evasive as it advances, elusive and super explosive!

Now how can you understand this style requires a lot of energy and so if you are well conditioned and stay active it really is an aggressive way in the ring that can lead you to pull important shots and win matches with decisive shots but requires important athletic physical characteristics if you do not want to find yourself without energy in the middle of the round and with your opponent charging you.

Advancing with this style to close the distance is not easy indeed, it does not mind the movement of the head becomes fundamental to avoid the blows of your opponent but this is a very aggressive way to advance as if to look for the KO or almost the street fight and no opponent feels comfortable when you have this approach.

Counter-tempo attack (out of rhythm)

The peek-a-boo boxing style as well as cutting the ring by taking up your opponent’s space to enter a range where throwing powerful shots and combinations really prepares you for a big knockout attack.

Playing against time or in discontinuous form actually goes against the rhythm of boxing where in an on-time rhythm you are both like in a dance while in an off rhythm everyone is following his own rhythm and occupying the space differently making the fight more variable and unpredictable.

It is always useful even in a standard style to use an on rhythm and an off rhythm by skilfully mixing them

What’s the difference between staying in rhythm and staying out of rhythm?

Attention does not mean being out of time, because you are always in timing!

See Also

Your Complete Guide to The Peek-a-boo Boxing StylePeekABoo Boxing Style: A Comprehensive Guide | Baller CircuitThe Peek-a-Boo Style ExplainedBeginners Guide To The Peekaboo Style

Most fighters are at an active pace where fighters punch and defend themselves by matching each other’s rhythm, creating a flow.

This makes the match more predictable and if you want more “relaxed” as much as a fight can be because both fighters strike at the same speed, it is easier for them to decide when to attack and when to defend, and also when to trade.

But if you stagger the pace and cut time as if one runs and the other walks, you cut the road, etc. so when you fight out of rhythm, the timing no longer matches smoothly and anything can happen at any time.

You are creating discontinuities of movement and space no longer respecting flow rules but setting your own way that no longer respects the speed and distances of your opponent, enter, speed, cut space.

In attack being a fighter against time or “out of rhythm” allows you to place shots when opponents least expect it

In defense being a fighter against time or “out of rhythm” allows you to stop the opponent’s attacks.

This is a useful time to land place surprise shots and knockout punches because consider that it is precisely the fist that you do not see coming that does the most damage or when you are in a certain phase of breathing aspiration as when you are expressing the blow.

Attacking out of rhythm adapts very well to restless and high-energy fighters or you see it do when a fighter loses his temper by aggressively searching for decisive shots.

Mike Tyson is a fighter who has a continuous movement in matches , he is stationary only when he is away from his opponent and it is there that he recovers energy.

It’s like a predator hunting prey.

On the other hand, there are different cases of dating drivers like Floyd Mayweather waiting for the opponent but also here they are hunters waiting for prey but are always hunters, a different way of being predatory.

Other fighters who like to stay in a perpetual motion (FIDGETY/OFF-RHYTHM motion) are fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, etc. who always see them moving and against the time of the opponent always keeping the opponent under pressure.

Both Pacquiao and Hatton are constantly moving, as nervous and very out of rhythm and also love to move the bust like Tyson more if like Paquiao you are with a southpaw guard and so the game still makes it.

Defense is always on

Defense is a fundamental element in combat and peek-a-boo style is an always-on defense, all the time, because it’s an aggressive style and there’s never a break during rounds both when you attack and when you defend.

You have to give pressure and to hit you have to enter the correct range that is inside your opponent’s guard which in theory if you use this style is higher or you are in a very aggressive phase of the match if you use the peek-a-boo boxing style and for this reason it is high energy and is tiring as a style because there is never a passive moment and there is some phase of “relaxation”.

And because of its counterattack nature that happens in counter-time or if you want “out of rhythm”, opponents need to be careful even when you’re just defending.

It’s a great quality to have to place shots in the middle of your opponent’s attack and for high-volume fighters who like to press all the time.

Precisely because of its offensive and aggressive nature the peek-a-boo style also uses a defense against time or if you want “out of rhythm” that generates a chaos that you can not detect and this generates panic, it is like a crazy ball that bounces irregularly.

To better understand how to defend yourself than a standard boxing approach where instead of parrying or doddling the opponent’s fist and returning a counterattack, this style quickly slips off the side (with a frantic torso movement) and counterattacks with a hard knockout blow.

It may seem to an in-expert eye always similar but instead the pressure it puts on the opponent is not the same, on the contrary.

Placing shots in the middle of those of the opponent with fluidity give the idea that your way of attacking takes place from a perfect but relaxed timing but it is not really so, to understand it is not like seeing Gervonta Davis when she places her left hand doding the shot and returning or how she does Vasyl Lomachenko,or a Floyd Mayweather Jr..

Out-of-rhythm attacks make you feel and appear to your opponent as if you’re trying to close the match with a rush of powerful shots and placing shots while defending you makes the pressure of an active defense feel.

Rolling and Slipping

Performing fluid defense techniques like shoulder roll (rolling) doesn’t interrupt your opponents’ rhythm so much because your fists fall on your shoulders and don’t lose balance.

Out-of-rhythm slipping defense techniques (such as slipping) disrupt your opponents’ pace, as they lose their balance when you’re completely missing them and their arms swing in the air instead of pulling the next punch.

If you add footwork to that to get yourself into a better shooting position like Mike did, it gets devastating.

The disadvantages of Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style

High energy expenditure

The Peek-a-boo boxing style is fast, explosive and smart but it is not simple and above all it is not at all what you call a soft style or a boxing style with excellent energy expenditure management and you need to know this because it is not “efficient” and requires so much energy and high-level athletic preparation.

If you are that an energetic fighter with high volume of movement and blows with an endless and tireless energy reserve it is a great fighting style but if you are more of a more conservative type of counter-puncher, who pulls shots and goes away and lets the shots come to counterattack then the style of the peek-a-boo is not so easy for you indeed it will leave you without energy in a short time.

Now attention is combat there is no style that does not require energy but what I want it to understand and that really needs more energy than usual, try to make a vacuum in the different styles to immediately realize what I am telling you.

It can be a great exercise and also useful for exploring approaches and styles that you can put into some stages of sparring or match.

Peek-a-boo boxing style requires a lot of movement without hitting shots.

• Fast leg work to get you within range,
• rapid head movements to avoid incoming blows,
• and then bursts of energy with powerful shots and combinations that you’ve trained hard to set up the match.

Peek-a-boo boxing style requires a lot of movement without throwing shots, so there’s a lot of energy-efficient work besides throwing punches, it’s a style that requires a lot of energy to spend on punchless movements.

Those who don’t like the peek-a-boo style often claim that it wastes energy but this is something for granted and they are often lazy or very heavy (overweight) and prefer to spend their energies only in to hit or counterattacks while remaining very static.

However, in general a boxer who has good footwork still has a good energy expenditure compared to “fighting from a firm”.

Fit and energetic guys always use energetic footwork by moving and taking up all the space in the ring, move their heads when advancing or advancing the opponent (even when they are not punched), make fakes, throw preparation punches, throw combinations, use discontinuous movements accelerating and slowing down, etc.

Energetic fighters like to press and push the pace to hit while less energetic and “heavy” fighters prefer to wait for the perfect time to strike but it means leaving a lot of initiative to your opponent unless it’s just a combat strategy.

Now you have to look at yourself and ask yourself some questions as if:

• Do you have the right physique for this style?
• Are you tall or are you low?
• Do you always feel full of energy?
• Do you really like to use more energy than your opponents?
• Do you really have more energy than your opponents?
• Do you like to spend a lot of effort getting into position?
• Do you like to stay active with footwork and head movement all the time?
• Do you like to stay active with head movement all the time?

Or are you more of a boxer than a relaxed one who likes to think and prefers to move only when movement is needed to evade blows or to strike?

Even if you are a fighter who prefers the safety and simplicity of simple I move, hit or block and dodge when needed?

From my point of view a modern boxer can be different styles depending on the time of the match or the type of opponent the important thing is never to use something that does not feel natural because it means that it is something that is not in your way or that you have not yet made your own.

Fighting out of rhythm is risky

This game is risky but with the concept of maximum risk maximum effectiveness, like everything there are pros and cons but fighting the against the rhythm is like going against a wave or riding it and it’s a really scary place to stay because you’re going against the punches.

If your shots are scored at that time they do a lot of damage but also those of your opponent if his shots are scored you take some good shots and therefore a lot of damage.

This is the price you pay to always go against shots to cut your opponent’s pace.

It’s like going against the current instead of following the current, like going against a wave instead of riding it.

But it’s about combat there’s always a risk and as Mike Tyson said:

“The ring is the most beautiful place in the world, you know what can happen to you“

Watch peek-a-boo fighter matches in different weights like Mike Tyson or even other fighters fighting outside the flow like Manny Pacquiao, Ricky Hatton, etc. and you’ll see that many times they took big risks and even major shots even when they didn’t go ko took some hard shots.

A decrease in performance, distraction or miscalculation can be fatal for a fighter who goes against time or “out of rhythm”.

You remember the KO taken by these fighters, they were always devastating.

But if you look at fighters who are in the regular rhythm like Floyd Mayweather they can fight well in their older years like Floyd years, or Roy Jones never take a hard hit apart from rare cases like Floyd with Maidana who with that famous bout blew him a tooth.

“With the tooth I flew to Mayweather I made myself a pendant” (Meidana)

Of course they are boxers also who also have a top-notch defensive ability, but it is also the result of their style and their style does not put them in a place or range to shoot hard shots.

They are fighters who have a style that allows them to show up for a match without perfect form and still go out without suffering much damage but you can not do it if you have a Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style style because it means getting hurt.

You need the power of the shots

It is an important feature in this style to have power in the shots if you decide to go in the middle of your opponent’s shots and once you are in your range place shots.

Every time you decide to do this going forward, you have to have destructive power and dynamite in your shots like Mike Tyson does.

When you advance and your opponent has his feet well planted and you enter his space he will pull you shots because you are trying to advance into his space and he will place blows on blow to try to hit you and stop your advance before he enters your range to strike and will do this even if he does not have an excellent defense.

Moving forward means your opponent has a better chance of hitting you before you can hit him.

So to avoid this it is essential to have power in the shots and your opponent must know and must be afraid because if you have no power in the shots your opponent will not give up and exchange blows trying to finish the match.

If he’s not afraid of you and doesn’t back down the Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style strategy won’t work because he’ll stay there to trade hard shots for your rounds after round sin that he’s longer and you spend the more rounds and the more in a style you get tired of.

But if you have power and he knows it, he heard the blows when you came in then he backs down, defends himself, closes and doesn’t throw punches while you’re in your range but only at the stage where you’re going forward to dodge but if he’s afraid even at that stage he starts to pull back.

Having power in shots in peek-a-boo boxing style is key!

Expressing power like Tyson who had so many and also exceptional boxing skills but that pace in matches was not sustainable if he was not in absolute shape and for all rounds and it is no coincidence that he closed the matches in the first rounds or usually lost even if clearly against other great boxers.

It is a style that is not for all people and ages, I think it is now clear to you, it is a style for a few but it is definitely a style that you can use with some opponents for some stages of the round or match and that is why it is useful to know and train in this style to understand if it becomes yours and therefore when it is necessary to use it.

You have to be a good cashier

If you have to go ahead by dodding the fists of your opponents you have to be a good cashman because even if you are you have a good head movement you can not think that you will always avoid all the blows and if you are not a good casher and you are going ahead take good shots.

So it’s no coincidence that ghers like Tyson who have a Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style are also great cashers.

It applies not only to boxing but also to Muay Thai and MMA.

Mike Tyson’s style of head movement went against his opponent’s fists (dodding his fists sideways) instead of going to the opponent with his fists (dodding or parading out of the punch range).

This approach is not by everyone and going inside the fists as Mike Tyson does is not by everyone and if you try during sparring you will see that there is a high probability of being hit even heavily while instead walking away and then entering with the shots in combination does not have the same risk of being hit.

Hitting from distance allows you not only easier to avoid shots by parading or doddling but also if a shot arrives it doesn’t come with the same weight as if you go forward, as if it’s a bout.

So as you also see the feature of being a good cashier in this style is important.

Use this boxing style when you’re very fit, loose, hot and in the early rounds because if you’re tired and you move with your head not efficiently or you’re slow to dodge you risk even more of being hit by your opponent and it’s no coincidence that Mike Tyson was trying to close out the match in the first rounds and that often if the match went along as a round , usually lost the match because he no longer had the same explosive energy as the first rounds.

Not a style for beginners and amateur fighters

It is certainly not one of the first styles of boxing that you have to learn, the peek-a-boo style is definitely for experts and professional boxers.

It’s a style for practitioners and pros who are fit because it’s meant to be fast, explosive, unpredictable, energetic.

If you are an amateur doing amateur matches consider that the amateur score was scored with a points system where every clean contact is marked as a point, regardless of the strong or flat impact and the duration of the matches is short.

So a hard punch, unless you make a knockout but consider that you use the helmets, marks a shot that is recorded as 1 point, but 5 light punches are recorded as 5 points.

Today, a 10-point scoring system is used that is more similar to the scoring system used in professional boxing matches but even so the judges tend to give the victory still mainly based on the number of punches pulled.

Then if you consider the size of the gloves and the helmet used it is quite difficult to make a knockout so maybe more than the style in if you get clean shots score do more for the judges than a couple of hard punches even if it is cool to reinvigocate it but the risk is that you still lose the match to the points.

If the judges see a nice posture, a nice footwork, head movement, clean shots on target maybe with two shots you scored your opponent he touched you just but he wins.

Let’s say that both as a professional and as an amateur unless a KO that brings all the judges together are to be convinced more and more that the audience that in the end gets excited when they see hard punches but who issues the verdict are always the judges.

Even if you know he hit you with 10 punches that looked like caresses and you took him with two beautiful punches placed and powerful that made your opponent falter doesn’t mean that it actually looked like this for the judges who are ultimately also conditioned by the local audience and sometimes they are wrong.

You know how many amateur matches where I’ve seen a fighter do a lot more damage and beat all the time and then see a questionable verdict because I repeat 10 hard shots against 20 light shots wins the number of shots, it’s absurd but that’s the case when there are helmets, big gloves, etc. so the Peek-a-Boo style is not suitable for amateur matches but I repeat they are choices , if you’re like Mike Tyson you can do the one on an amateur level too since he knocked everyone out.

If you are very tall the Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style is not for you

This is probably the biggest drawback of the peek-a-boo style, use it when it is not necessary for your natural physical characteristics!

What’s the point of doing this if you can take advantage of your long lan length for your height and long levers?

Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style is for compact fighters, with short, explosive and powerful arms, it is not for tall fighters with long limbs.

Tyson uses the peek-a-boo style because he is a fighter who in heavyweights is lower and with shorter arms than all the opponents he has encountered.

Try to review Tyson’s matches and you will see that he is practically always lower and smaller than his opponents.

Watch how he has to use the head movement to dodge the many punches thrown at him when he is out of reach of his shots and for this he needs to move his head at all kinds of angles while holding up his guard well.

But as soon as he’s within range he has to blow up some very powerful shots because he has to be as fast as possible to do the most damage before his opponent comes out of that short distance for him but perfect for Mike Tyson’s arms.

Mike, if you look at the matches, was an expert on counter-attack by exploding very powerful shots that often knocked out his opponents in a fraction of a second and did it out of necessity of range and duration of the match because fighting like this requires a lot of energy and that’s also why when the match went long Mike is usually there that he lost because he lost that speed in the Head Movement becoming a firmer target at long levers of his opponents.

This approach also exposes you to match shots even though clearly Mike was really a talent at performing Cus D’Amato’s Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style.

In addition, by passing the time even opponents can better understand where to stay not to be surprised by Mike Tyson’s Peek-a-Boo Boxing Style.

Tyson has to move his head so much because he is a lower fighter in that weight category and was often at a distance where his opponents could reach him, but he could not reach them.

But he watched the matches, as soon as he entered his range he threw very powerful punches in combination as much as he could.

Tyson only hits as soon as he enters range and uses his defense to get into whatever distance.

Now if you have arms longer than your opponent you don’t need to do this because you can strike from distance, you don’t need to go ahead to get into range to strike your shots because you can take them from a greater distance than your lower opponent, you probably don’t need to use the peek-a-boo style at all unless you find someone much taller than you in turn.

Mike Tyson with his opponents was always forced to go “further forward”, he always had to go inside and immediately throw powerful combinations when he entered the range.

How could he use the Jab with someone who has a much longer extension than his, so if you don’t have to go inside your opponent’s guard to get into range, don’t use the peek-a-boo style.

So if you’re taller, do you really need to come forward like Iron Mike does?

I would say no because it is better to take advantage of the distance from your opponent with your extension and throw powerful shots from that distance, better hit from distance and wait for it when it advances go out or take a step back and hit it as it approaches your fists trying to hit it from the match.

Your head can stand still and use the Head Movement just to dodge the blows because you don’t need to do all that movement because from that distance you have to move your head just to dodge a fist.

Remember Mike Tyson’s meeting with Lewis?

He used the Jab to keep him at a distance with powerful Crosses, the only time he uses head movement is when he tries to avoid a punch and often placing a counterattack at the same time as the dodge to stop the action and avoid combinations of shots.

If you’re tall you can counter your opponent simply by being where you are, you don’t need to get inside but hit from distance.

Needed head movement a few times just to dodge shots not to get inside because he can punch him long before he can get to his attack range.

Watch boxers very tall and like Wilder, Fury, etc., and you’ll notice that many of the taller fighters are more likely to pull their heads out of reach by taking it back than lowering their heads below or sliding their heads lower into the opponent’s reach by bending with their legs or making ducks advance.

You have long arms, take advantage of that feature to place powerful shots from distance and leave, you don’t need to move your head if your opponent can’t hit you from that distance, you’re just wasting energy.

You’re able to throw punches from that distance without much worry, pull and keep pulling.

It’s a benefit to you if you can work to keep your distance (maintaining range advantage) instead of reducing distance and getting to a point where you have to worry about dodding, covering yourself, and moving your head.

Tall, long-line fighters against lower opponents should not close the gap but pull from distance and go and place explosive punches!

Strategy and style change if you are:

• Low vs. High Opponent
• Same height as your opponent
• High against a Low Opponent

This aspect is also to be considered in a match, beyond athletic preparation, strategy, technique, footwork, combinations and precisely the style that can put your opponent in crisis.

It’s a style that slows down tall fighters with longer arms

Mind you, Mike Tyson has an ultra compact body, it’s like a steel block (Iron Mike) and it’s all very tight for what its natural conformation is like.

You’ve realized by now that this is a style that works well if you’re done a certain way.

Everything has to be hidden tight when you raise your arms, so try to put yourself in front of the mirror and from your normal boxing position, check if your chin and body are simple enough to cover.

If you are very long you will see that to cover it you have to move your arms by many centimeters to cover your chin and body.

If you look at Mike Tyson when he put the two gloves to cover his chin with his arms he also covered his body, he’s compact enough to cover the targets by holding the guard almost still.

If you are in front of the mirror and see that your neck and torso are long and that your arms either cover your chin or cover your body then this style is not suitable for you.

If your body is slender because you are tall with long, muscular arms, instead of taking advantage of this feature that allows you an important extension and instead of taking advantage of this feature of yours to break your natural posture and natural way to move to curl up your body to compact it is something that doesn’t make sense.

You can do this but only when it is necessary but this cannot be your ideal style for you.

Then talking about Head Movement and then swinging the torso sideways (it is not bending the neck that indeed must always remain in axis) is not easy if you are very tall because you have a very long lever and this slows you down compared to a naturally compact body.

Mike Tyson’s Head Movement or head movement style, swinging sideways the torso is difficult for everyone but it is even more so if you are a very tall fighter.

You have other advantages if you are tall and therefore if you are a tall fighter and with long limbs you must never try to compact their combat position but you have to take advantage of the extension!

Watch how boxing a tall and low fighter even among your friends and you’ll see that they don’t move the same way, such as head movement, footwork, guard, etc.

It’s not easy to use peek-a-boo style for your body while maintaining balance and without burning a lot of energy if you don’t have a compact natural structure.

Here are the downsides of compacting your body if you are tall and with long limbs:

• The Head Movement if you are very tall leads too far out of your center of gravity and limits your balance.
• If you are tall and bend your body to compact it you take a position that is unnatural to you and this limits your balance and limits footwork .
• You can’t anticipate and stop your opponent’s attack in advance, which way you lose the height and stretch advantage and lose the ability to fend off opponents and keep them at a distance if you keep your hands attached to you.
• Long arms have the advantage of parrying fists from further afield but if you keep your arms close, your long arms need to work harder to lock and counterattack your opponent and this tires your arms.
• If you are tall you have to take advantage of the longer arms to take advantage of the stretch and keep the distance and then you can keep them a little further forward (I just said a little).
• If you put your hands attached to your chin you can’t take advantage of the stretch right away because your fists have to travel longer before you can hit the target and this slows down your shots. Tall fighters give shots first and therefore keeping their hands up will take longer to reach the target.
• You can’t take advantage of the stretch to tie (clinch) and this is a huge plus for tall fighters with long arms to work inside (fight inside). Long arms can grab when there is no space and you close the distance before a short opponent enters its distance by stopping the action when for example you have not been able to keep your distance thanks to the extension while the fighter who has the shortest arms have more space and lever for punches inside in the tightest spaces (fight inside).

The common concepts of the peek-a-boo style but which are fundamental for all styles

In peek-a-boo as in other styles there are common elements that apply to everyone, regardless of boxing style such as:

• explosive blows,
• head movement
• Footwork
• Reflections
• reaction times
• Etc.

are fundamental in all styles.

It’s a normal thing to have beyond what is the standard of favorite boxers and try to imitate their techniques, features, etc. but it’s important to use this research to find YOUR style.

All were inspired by some athletes but in the end each of today’s champions is from the past stands out for personal characteristics that are the result of personal research applied to their own characteristics.

You have to learn the style but don’t copy the boxer because you’re not him!

Mike Tyson was also inspired by boxers of his time such as Roberto Duran and Jack Dempsey etc. if you read his biography and listen to some of his interviews tell it.

But don’t try to imitate boxers who use this style but it must be something that suits you and your peek-a-boo style.

Always learn the essence of styles but not only copy mike tyson peek-a-boo you like, but it must be your natural expression, if it is your style use it but do not copy something just because you like as I told you there are styles that need the physical athletic characteristics of a certain type.

Now it will be by chance but Floyd Patterson has always been coached by Cus D’Amato, José Torres and Mike Tyson in short, it is no coincidence and they all had in common this coach and also their unique version of peek-a-boo.

An exception was for Muhammad Ali where Cus has always been a coach, a councillor but in a different form precisely because he had different characteristics.

Cus D’Amato is also known for developing the boxing technique called
Peek-a-Boo, an
offensive style in which the boxer holds his hands high in front of his face and moves quickly.

If you look in detail at some professional boxers, you can see elements of Mike Tyson’s peek-a-boo style or boxing style in many other fighters that may only be used at certain stages and distances of the fight.

Try to see as well as Tyson Miguel Cotto, Yuriorkis Gamboa ,Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquiao and try to observe your training buddies in the gym.

Tyson was one of the most incredible boxers ever and his style was also the result of having to face taller boxers with arms longer than his own and thus overcome his natural limits and his talent in the hands of a boxing genius like Cus D’Amato created a true living legend of world boxing.