Great video! When well-executed, it's a joy to behold ... I read somewhere it was tailor-made for Tyson with his short reach; the peek-a-boo kept both hands equidistant from the target, and allowed him tremendous leverage in combinations. But it does require LOT of upper-body agility and mobility to take the place of parrying punches ... not sure how well those qualities age in a fighter as they get on. Are/were there any older fighters who used it in later years (say, late 30s/40s)? Thanks for putting this together, great addition!
After all these years I'm still not settled on what I think of the peek a boo, mind you Patterson at his top found his best in it but it also left him open to big shots, Liston had no trouble putting holes in it while having a tough time catching Eddie Machen clean over ten rounds and Ingo tagged him solid in their first and third goes as did other fighters. Mike was simply a force of nature and the limitations of the style weren't seen until he was past his prime when he got tagged at an increasing rate. I never found throwing a good jab easy out of it and its forte is short close up combinations not straight longer ones. Just still undecided.
I think, unlike other defenses, it relies more on good footwork in combination with what the upper half is doing. Real good hips. Most other defenses really do not emphasize legs that much and many guys just work on the top half. This style simply requires a set of quick feet to set the offense in motion. And it is really a counter type strategy at work anyway. when an opponent throws at the peekaboo, they miss a lot and that's where everything starts. they can go off balanance and that quick step in puts the Pattersons and Tysons in their range. But once leg deterioration starts, you see a lot of squaring up and posing and other real bad traits. Tough to maintain this style for a long duration of time and requiring excellent conditioning and reflexes.
Absolutely spot on. Explosively closing the distance while throwing punches and changing head slots demands a lot of the legs. It's difficult and exhausting to train and definitely favors the legs of the young. Even without the legs the style remains useful for intermediate-range punching mechanics and defensive movements, but without the dynamic closing/entry aspect, it's particularly prone to counters at long- to intermediate-range.
It looked good on tyson in the early days, when he seemed more disciplined. As time went on he seems to use it less and less , seemingly forgetting defence to score the big shots. In fact imo the less he used the peek - a - boo the more he was caught. Interesting to think, both the youngest heavy weight champ s both used the same defence.
Good point. I can imagine that style playing havoc with your back if your not fully fit as well. In the first Bruno and Douglas fights it was hardly ever used and as u say not effective as such. Tyson was just going for the spectacular ko by then anyway, his defence was practically forgotten.
