Is the Peekaboo guard any good?

As good as the fighter that uses it

 

Exactly that. Every style is good, depends on the person implementing it

 

Winky Wright had a great peek a boo guard. It was very hard to hit him with clean shots.

 

If you are athletic/fast enough and in good enough shape to use it then yes. Takes a specific and somewhat special kind of fighter to pull it off well though imho.

 

Peek a boo guard and peek a boo style are not the same thing. The peek a boo style seems to work best for guys in their early 20s, with lots of stamina, and the right physical dimensions. I don’t think any current trainers (at least not well known trainers of top pros) utilize it anymore. Pitbull Cruz is probably the closest we’ve seen to a high level fighter using it in recent times.

 

Depends what style you utilise with it, I feel it is restrictive, makes you feel like you’re stuck in the mud, I feel it’s only good with the peek a boo style.

 

It protects the vital parts of your body. Most of the style focuses on head movement anyway, so you should ask whether you can pull off that.

 

If you are learning to box (or in any sport) you don’t try to learn a style of fighting.

you learn how to fight as best you can, the style this is is then yours.

as boxing has a longstanding history, we categorise the styles into certain categories, but the best style for you is the one where you fight the best.

don’t try to fit into a style

 

I used the peek-a-boo style pretty successfully in my early days of amateur boxing. If I tried to use it now, I’d be completely gassed out by about round 3 (not to mention I wouldn’t have the needed quickness anymore). You get to a point where your brain knows exactly what to do but your body just can’t deliver. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two youngest heavyweight champs in history were Floyd Patterson and then Mike Tyson (please correct me if that’s no longer correct), both of who were trained by Cus D’Amato (as well as Kevin Rooney in Tyson’s case) in the peek-a-boo style. Just remember that the peek-a-boo guard is not the same thing as the peek-a-boo style… this is such a common misconception!

 

I think it can be an effective technique for shorter fighters who are at a height/reach disadvantage to get inside their opponents jab

 

One other thing I meant to add is that I see a lot of people say that Tyson would have stayed on top if he had just kept Rooney as his trainer. I agree that this would have helped him for a little while, but eventually Tyson would have still gotten too old to use the peek-a-boo style effectively at the highest level of the heavyweight division. And as far as I know, that’s the only style Rooney taught. As a shorter, aging heavyweight, Tyson’s options would be somewhat limited regardless of trainer. In my opinion, he would have been best suited to transform from a swarmer (which the peak-a-boo style generally falls under) to a more traditional slugger, more like a Marciano. He could have still used a lot of elements from the peek-a-boo style, such as the high guard, good head movement, bobbing and weaving, a focus on bodywork, etc. However, he would need to slow the pace down, be more economical with punches, shorten the number of punches in his combinations, throw more pot shots, improve his parrying and punch blocking (and his defense in general, as a lot of his defensive success early on was dependent on his lightning fast reflexes), learn to box better off the back foot, and work on his ring generalship and controlling the pace of the fight. And most importantly, he needed to work on his mental game and learn to overcome adversity and have a plan B and plan C when things don’t go great at first. Look at someone like Usyk… he spends the first couple rounds studying his opponent (or “downloading information” as the announcers like to call it), whereas Mike usually just came out guns blazing from the opening bell, which to his credit, worked great when he was young and in his prime. I just feel like truly great boxers in terms of longevity are very good at adjusting and evolving their styles as they get older; there are tons of good examples, but Mayweather, Hopkins, and Foreman are some of the first that come to mind for me.

 

Requires too much energy/conditioning. Young man's style.

 

Your offensive attack has to match the peekaboo guard. Because of how your elbow is placed and where your hands are, those who rely on a speedy jab will struggle to set the tone. Peekaboo does allow one to slip and counter with strong hooks and uppercuts that can damage an opponents confidence. (Mike Tyson)

 

Good post!

On a side note, you pretty much just said Tyson needed to change everything and become someone else (I don’t disagree with you though)

slow down, less punches, become a pot shotter, use guard and parry more, box off the back foot, control the pace (assume you mean slow it down), change his mental game.

This is not Mike Tyson anymore lol