When you think of Mike Tyson, you don’t usually picture a moment of tribute unfolding inside a modern boxing ring. You picture a storm in gloves—The Baddest Man on the Planet, knocking out giants and swallowing fear whole. But what unfolded on his Instagram story recently wasn’t a tale of legacy and pressure—it was a quiet salute, almost four decades in the making, to the man who made Iron Mike possible: Cus D’Amato.
The short video clip showed Tyson’s son, Miguel Leon Tyson, practicing inside the ropes. As Metro Boomin’s Superhero boomed in the background, Miguel—clad in branded Tyson gear—could be seen practicing the very technique his father once perfected to terrorize opponents: the peek-a-boo style invented by the late great D’Amato himself.
Cus D’Amato, who passed away in November 1985 at the age of 77, was more than a trainer. He was a philosopher of boxing—a father figure to many boxing greats like Floyd Patterson, Jose Torres, and, of course, a young Mike Tyson. The peek-a-boo style, with its signature tight guard, head movement, and sudden counterattacks, was designed to close distance and confuse power punchers. And in that brief Instagram snippet, nearly 40 years since D’Amato’s death, it lived again—fluidly executed by Tyson’s 23-year-old son, even if only for exercise.
What made the moment more poignant was Mike Tyson’s quiet endorsement. By sharing the clip on his story & tagging his son @migueliontyson, the boxing legend showed support as Miguel Tyson mirrored the style he once popularized—a subtle but powerful bridge between eras.
To be precise, it’s been 39 years and 7 months since Cus passed. And yet, his influence refuses to rest. It breathes through every bob, weave, and step Miguel makes inside that ring. It’s not about legacy in a traditional sense—Miguel isn’t aiming to become a prizefighter. But in embracing the movements of his father’s mentor, he’s honoring the spirit of a man who built warriors.
The history of the peek-a-boo style before Mike Tyson
The peekaboo style of boxing isn’t just a flashy term thrown around in highlight reels—it’s a calculated, complex, and explosive system of movement and strategy. Originally crafted by legendary trainer Constantine “Cus” D’Amato, this style helped mold some of boxing’s fiercest competitors, most famously Mike Tyson. While D’Amato referred to it simply as “tight defense,” its modern name—peek-a-boo—captures the cat-and-mouse rhythm of slipping punches and returning fire with devastating counters.
At the heart of peek-a-boo is a combination of tight, high-guard defense and relentless forward pressure. It especially suits shorter, stockier fighters, turning their reach disadvantage into a stalking advantage. Unlike traditional counter punchers who wait to capitalize on mistakes, peekaboo fighters force the action. They close distance using constant head movement, dynamic footwork, and sudden shifts in angle, all designed to bait opponents into swinging and missing. As soon as that happens, it’s game on. “Bad intentions” became the motto, a nod to D’Amato’s admiration for Goju Ryu Karate, where fighters strike with full commitment after closing in.
The stance is unconventional—square and nearly side-by-side rather than bladed. This gives peekaboo fighters the ability to explode in any direction and fire power shots from both hands. D’Amato-trained boxers often switched stances mid-combination, using moves like the back foot step and the slip step to create chaos and opportunities. Mike Tyson mastered this art, using techniques like the D’Amato shift to break through guards and land those iconic uppercuts, or the side shift to reset angles during exchanges.
The peek-a-boo style of boxing remains one of the most effective (and misunderstood) styles in boxing. But it has its downsides. It requires a lot of speed and stamina and is very physically taxing. It leaves fighters vulnerable to body shots if the elbows aren’t kept low, and the reliance on head movement can be risky if you are facing a boxer with a good jab. And most importantly, it’s only suitable for certain types of fighters with a specific body type, like Mike Tyson. As a result, the style has not been effectively used a lot since the Iron Mike days. That was until, of course, young Miguel Tyson decided to give it a shot. What did you think about Mike Tyson’s son’s form? Did he remind you of his dad?
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