The Secrets Of The Peekaboo With Teddy Atlas
The Peekaboo is one of the most exciting styles in boxing history. It’s a devastating style made known by the legend “Iron Mike Tyson,” who has left a mark on the boxing world and showed us how beautiful the violence in boxing could be.
Although being represented to the world as Mike Tyson style, he wasn’t the one who has created it. The legendary Cus D’Amato was in charge of making this unique and exciting style that would change boxing forever.
Cus D’Amato was an exceptional teacher who is considered the most intelligent man boxing ever saw. Cus has raised other champions under him like the great Floyd Patterson, and of course, his prodigy that he took in at the age of 13, Mike Tyson.
The beauty behind this style of fighting is that it involved both offensive and defensive attributes inside it. The peekaboo is about getting close to our opponent like a ghost, and once inside - wreak havoc.
The peekabo works best for pressure fighters like Tyson, who like to be aggressive, but at the same time be defensive as your avoiding everything coming at you until you can hit the target and hurt them badly.
When fighters try to imitate the peekabo, the main problem we see is that they don’t know when to break from the defensive cycle and move into their attacks, or otherwise, they commit to their attacks, never getting back on the defensive.
The key here is to notice the openings created by the opponent after he misses his punches and counter him with a fast combo of 2-3 punches that we drilled into automation to get our head of the centerline as fast as we can to get back on the defensive.
In the following video, Teddy Atlas will show us how to work the peekabo like a pro.
Who Is Teddy Atlas?
Teddy Atlas is a known coach worldwide for his accomplishments as a teacher, developing countless world champions in boxing. Teddy is one of the last students of Cus D’Amato that choose to continue his way and live a life dedicated to the sport of boxing. Teddy is also known for being Mike Tyson’s coach for a short time until they had an incident that separated them. Teddy is still a teacher to this day and an active figure in boxing, working for ESPN as a commentator.
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The Peekaboo
In this video, Teddy Atlas will give us an appetizer for his complete instructional talking about the Peekaboo.
The great Cus D’Amato made the Peekabo, and he copied it a little bit from a fighter back in the 1920s, where there was only one champion, unlike today, and the competition was much more challenging.
When they talked about the fighter from the 20s, what caught Teddy’s eyes is that Cus pointed out that this fighter could stay right in front of you, and you wouldn’t hit him no matter what. Cus liked this idea, and he took it to make what we know today as the peekaboo.
What Cus wanted when he developed the Peekaboo was an exciting style that will entertain the fans; he wanted an explosive style. Cus made the style something that could be used with a defensive mindset and be offensive.
So, first of all, when we work the Peekaboo, we want to keep our hands up but notice that Teddy keeps them below the eyes, fighters that hold their hands over their eyes, block their peripheral vision and will leave them blind for the hooks coming.
As we stand at the Peekaboo stance, we want to keep our chin down and look at our opponent’s shoulders; this will allow us to see where the punches are coming from without exposing ourselves. Our fist should stay straight and not bend, so I don’t punch myself when I block his shots. I also want my elbows tucked inside while standing in the square stance.
We want a square stance because it will allow us to press the action while slipping punches and walking forward. So now when we move forward in this stance to slip the straight punches and weave under the punches coming from around while looking for the openings to dig our shots in.
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