What happened to the peek-a-boo style?

Doohickey · Jul 7, 2023

Rollin said: ↑

Define Peek-A-Boo first.

Peek-a-boo is a boxing style which received its common name for the defensive hand position, which are normally placed in front of the face, like in the baby's game of the same name [..] The general idea is that the Peek-a-boo practitioners are counterpunchers, who contrary to accustomed ways of counterpunching perceived as constantly backing-up and jabbing from the safe distance, move forward and do it with a lot of aggressiveness by constantly charging at the opponent, provoking him into throwing punches to counter, and subsequently into making mistakes to capitalize on, by creating openings and dominant angles of attack. (Wikipedia)

The major benefit of the Peek-A-Boo style is that it gives the practicioner the ability to quickly and easily transition from Inside to Outside and from Orthodox to Southpaw. The style is built around the concept of being able to use each side in the exact same way. This allows for total access to all angles and positions at all time. (David, Christian 275:2019)

Well, a Peek-A-Boo, it's really a cruel style of boxing. You keep both hands ups, you twist your waist as you move, you come forward, you make the guy miss and counterpunch. It was pretty much discovered from Karate. They just move, get to one position, and punch with everything you got, with bad and mean and ferocious intentions. Most of his (D'Amato) fighting was psychological. He believed physical actuality of boxing was ten percent, when the mind was ninety percent.

So to name a few fundamental principles:
a) Intense, often aggressive defense to open up counterpunching opportunities (sudden head slot changes; crouch in Patterson's case). Hands protect the chin, cocked and ready to strike, without obscuring vision.

b) Squared position enhancing lateral movement and allowing for smooth, two-fisted combinations.

c) As of 80's: ambidextrous approach with D'Amato shift, allowing for a whole new world of angles with counter-to-southpaw. Squared stance is not far from it so it's much easier than, say, shifting from bladed stance. Early on you could still see Patterson use his defense and speed to find new angles, exploiting his smaller size to gain the best leverage possible.

d) In Tyson's case: the philosophy of mean intentions. Of breaking the character of your opponent through display of extreme athleticism, superb skill, and fanatic decisivness.

Compare it to the High-Guard:

a) It actively employs tight defense composed of hands held tightly at the temples. Great defense at the cost of your offense, as your punches are coming from a predictable angle, your vision is obscured, and you are prone to control game (frames, hand traps.) Subtle movements at the waist/upper-body movement required to achieve some degree of slickness. Peek-A-Boo most of the time keeps the vision clear and less prone to such maneuvers.

b) Give-and-take concept is the main engine behind your counterpunching opportunities. Conditioning your opponent to making contact with your high-guard and creating and illusion of hittability, you can take it all away suddenly with a defensive maneuver followed by a counter. That is a stark contrast to Peek-A-Boo which typically does not want to be hittable at any point.

c) High-Guard has to be assertive, taking space and pressuring your opponent, but it doesn't have to be outright aggressive, wheras Peek-A-Boo at its heart demands you to create an opening an ruthlessly exploit it.

It's relatively easy to see that Peek-A-Boo demands athletic gifts and extreme dedication to truly flourish, as you will be trying to draw the fire and exploit openings with bold angles and rapid combinations. Naturally it suits a smaller fighter, who can punch faster and more effectively up close and is typically the more nimble boxer. High Guard is easier to pick up and less demanding to implement, even if its mastery is as difficult as any other style.

EDIT: Also, no trainers. That is probably the main reason.

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Interesting. I never thought of the "peek-a-boo" style as a "cruel" style, until now.

Glass City Cobra · Jul 7, 2023

John Galt said: ↑

A "peek a boo master? " This message board has found a new low. Is that from a boxing video game or a video maker?
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It just means someone who mastered the peak a boo style like Tyson. Mayweather would be a Philly shell master.

like a boss · Jul 7, 2023

Many fighters still revert to peek a boo defence when under pressure. Particularly when forced back against the ropes or trapped in a corner. But although it protects the head well it leaves them open to body rips and if they leave a gap, upper cuts too.

Rollin · Jul 8, 2023

Doohickey said: ↑

Interesting. I never thought of the "peek-a-boo" style as a "cruel" style, until now.
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It was actually Mike Tyson's quote. I'll edit the post to credit him.

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What happened to the peek-a-boo style?

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