How to Beat the Peek A Boo
When James ‘Buster’ Douglas did the impossible and beat Mike Tyson, it was a shock that is still considered by many as the biggest upset in sporting history. Mike Tyson was Iron Mike, The Baddest Man on the Planet – the undefeated heavyweight champion who was brushing aside all the competition the heavyweight division had to offer.
Some still term the victory by Douglas as a fluke, citing a number of reasons why Tyson lost more due to his own failings and lack of discipline than to the skills of Douglas on the night but if you watch the fight from a technical standpoint, you will see that Buster Douglas just did a lot of things really well that would have troubled Mike Tyson on any given night, including Tyson at his best.
Now Tyson was very adept at slipping punches and he would often slip inside the jab and drive his left up but Douglas nullified this by pulling Tyson in whenever he slipped the jab of Douglas on the inside. This accomplished a number of things…firstly by pulling Mike Tyson’s head down, it stopped Tyson from getting any leverage for those dangerous short hooks and uppercuts on the inside. If Tyson resisted, Douglas would either tie up the left hand of Tyson so he couldn’t punch or simply control Tyson’s head and push him harmlessly out of range and off balance so there was no way Tyson could follow up.
Pushing Tyson out of the way was also something Douglas did extremely well in this fight. When Tyson slipped the shot, Douglas would steer Tyson away, again preventing Tyson from being able to plant his feet and punch. What is more, Douglas could steer Tyson away and into a punch – Douglas would steer Tyson and then unload with a right hand, catching Tyson out, who was still struggling to get away from the control of Buster Douglas.
Another trick Buster Douglas used was the lead arm after the combo, if Douglas missed his punch – such as the right hand, he would throw out his lead arm to keep Tyson off him and pushing him off balance. This prevented Tyson from closing the gap and maintaining the range Douglas wanted to fight at. The lead arm also making it difficult for Tyson to get any sort of power in his punches or being able to rattle off a combination.
From there, Douglas could turn that it into the stiff arm and use it for the same results – jamming Tyson so he couldn’t counter if he happened to slip the shot. He could also punch off the stiff arm with both the jab or the right hand and again the stiff arm served to disrupt the balance of Mike Tyson.
Watch the video below to see an absolute masterclass by James ‘Buster’ Douglas – these tactics will always be useful on how to beat the peek-a-boo and similar styles of head movement.
