# Boxing and Peek-a-boo: The Key to technical success



## Ivan (Jul 18, 2021)

I have been practicing drills Mike Tyson used in his training, for months now. I have also been interested in his style of boxing, pretty much since I started. Due to my problems with not being able to stand my ground in the ring, I never navigated towards it. But after months of drilling techniques over and over in front of a mirror, I realised the key to technical success. That is the prioritasation of shifting weight from one side to another.

What do I mean by this? I had a number of epiphanies as I continued to drill away. The first one was when I was practicing my slips with my coach - when I slipped, I was focusing on getting my head out of the way. But then I realised, that every movement in peekaboo involves shifting your weight from one foot to another. I then changed my focus to shifting my weight, and I realised that everything becomes so much easier. I started looking more into this, and realised that almost all movements are made up from the same core skill.

Walking forward in peekaboo (by looking at Mike Tyson) isn't like in any other stance; it's not just the back foot following the front one. The stance changes from orthodox to southpaw and back again with each step, and the weight shifts from one foot to another. With each step, the head moves out of the centre line. What I'm theorising is, that Mike Tyson avoided getting hit because he emphasised shifting his weight over actually slipping. It's much easier to focus on just shifting weight, as it makes up the backbone of all movements, than focusing on all movements individually - of course they all need to be practiced, but the actual application involves the same fundamentals.

Even one of the most complex movements of this style, is just shifting your weight - The D'Amato shift. Cus was a mastermind, and this movement is an amazing way to circle arround your opponent. I actually managed to use it out of instinct and it felt amazing and it also surprised my opponent too. Learning it, however, was hard as hell. But after about a two weeks of tripping over my own feet, I managed it. What does it involve? Shifting your weight, but with a little skip inbetween.

Peekaboo is a very defensive style, but Mike Tyson used it extremely agressively. You can watch his shadowboxing, I've embedded some below.




Notice how every movement has his head moving outside of the centre line. Even when he punches, his head is at an angle. That's him shifting and staying out of the centre line. Please let me know your insights on this, what your thoughts are etc


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## CB Jones (Jul 18, 2021)

You might like this video


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