Mike Tyson and the D'Amato Shift 

After watching film on the old Tyson fights, I'm astounded how so many people dismiss him as mindless muscle. Tyson was incredibly skilled in pee-a-boo style boxing! He was regularly much shorter than his opponents and there's no way he would have gotten inside without deft skills. Sure, being strong and aggressive helps but Tyson was a fantastic boxer. And that came because he trained his ass off to achieve that level.

I trained under Floyd Patterson for eight years. This type of movement was never showed to us by Floyd. Floyd always said the one thing you need to do after throwing punches was to take evasive action and that is to move. His speed and combinations was what Floyd was known for but never were we told to shift into an orthodox stance to a non orthodox or vice versa. I had an opportunity to train with Cus after an amateur fight I had in Albany. I fought Marc Mero for the light heavy weight golden gloves title 1979 beating Mark in a decision. Cus was at that fight. After my fight he came up to me and we were talking. He told me how he brought Floyd up and how determined and how much talent Floyd had. In our discussion he mentioned how he had a training camp in Catskills and asked if I would like to come to his gym to train. I wish I had taken him up on that. Floyds idea of defense was to throw combinations then move. There really was not a certain technique but just step to the side and move because 9 out of 10 times as soon as you unload punces your opponent is going to fire back. The object was for you to not be there when your opponent fired back. Cus also was the master in using phsycology by nurturing a fighters mind do everything that gives a fighter confidence in their ability. He did this with Tyson. He definitely is the greatest trainer of all time.

“Cause I am a counter puncher too; I just do it with a lot of aggression.” It’s so true that the first time I heard him say it I was like wait did he just...oh yeah that’s true.

tyson seemed like a nice guy when cus damato was with him

Kevin Rooney called it the switch. You can hear him yelling it from the corner when he knocked out pinklon thomas

You can get SOOO much power doing this shift. When you do the hop and the moment land you rip your punches. You can get so much energy it's like a loaded spring.

Well delivered narration. Class all the way through. Timing, pace, clarity. Allows the casual fan (and the few remaining Tyson critics) to appreciate the skill and strategy involved in creating a tactic to the benefit of the identifiable strengths of the athlete and that athlete's talented execution. Salute!

i get shit when i say mike is my favorite boxer of all time. But no one else has done what he has with such dominance. Love that this video shows his genius which is always overlooked. His autobiography shows how smart the dude was as well

Perfect example of the D’Amato shift.

That bob and weave alone is terrifying, imagine being there yourself in front of him while he does that. Gotta love mike for what he's achieved. sadly he made his own downfall.

Genius explanation!! I saw it on Golvkin and Limachenko

When you combine technique and brutal strength, you get Tyson. Monster.

I think the reason Mike's skill is more appreciated now is that back then people literally couldn't see all of his incredible moves. Most fans were watching on blurry small TVs (27" in the living room was pretty good for the 1980s) and rewinding a VHS to watch a highlight over and over was not as easy as it is now with digital video.

cracking video. brought clarity and better understanding to the variety of shifting especially the Cus d'mato version. Thanks. coach

One of the most beautiful moves in boxing.

Awesome, I love seeing highlights of Tyson

Lomachenko uses that move to great effect as well

Great video, beautiful to watch and well broken down!

What a great breakdown, please make more videos like this breaking down boxers’ techniques

I legitimately think ive watched this video five or six times over the last several years, its just such a good video

Beautiful breakdown

This kind of videos make my day, thank you so much ! :)

Nice video! People really under-appreciated his discipline and detail in motion back in the day and still do sometimes. The physics of hard shots aren't understood or looked at correctly by the general populous. It's not just how fast you throw your hand or how you connect. The turning of the foot, hips, upper body, explosive direction changes.. Mike had it down.

Beautiful explanation

Connor's narration is excellence!

It is true that shifting is a lost art. Great vid.

Sweet science... Footwork sets up everything in your offense & defense...

So glad i found this channel

very very good vid. i`ve always been looking for such video. the Peek a boo boxing style ist the most entertaining boxingstyle ever. it´s a very good style for smaller boxer vs big boxer. thank you for this.

Perfect analysis

From Fiji Thanks! Am no boxer but have been doing it all these years via shadow boxing and now i get to know that it is a fighting strategy... i used the shuffle to work on arm dexterity. Thanks for the video.

Great video. Thanks for sharing it.

Your videos are the BOMB

That last hook,what a shot that is. Mike Tyson,best heavyweight champion ever. Love to you MT.

This video is outstanding, can't wait to show my son

i really want to appreciate Superstar Mike Tyson moving in taking chances... really look up respect

This video was really usefull. Good job!

You have to continue that's techniques podcast!

I can't believe i thought I was the only one that knew about this special move Tyson used to do and I can't believe it's actually got a name for it. The best was when he sidestepped left into an uppercut with his right.

this is awesome thanks

Can you do more "special move" videos? I really like this kinda format.

Smart video for a smart move !! Bravo !

Just found your channel and subscribed! Great vid!

Used the shift in a street fight a week after the buster Mathis Jr fight ,right hook to the ribs shifted into a hard right uppercut and of fight.didn't know it had a name until now I studied tysons fights growing which was a lot harder than now.no internet.thanks for sharing this

great video!

Thank you so much. Subscribed :) Keep up the great work !

Great vídeo. .shows the Science of Boxing ..Thanks buddy.

Great vid

good video, please do more

Great video man 💪🏿

Good job.

great video .......salute

To me this was the reason for his decline as he got older. He seemed to stop shifting and just stood in front of opponents. He wasn't the same guy fighting Lennox Lewis. Very little side to side movement and very little ducking punches and reseting his feet. He just walked straight ahead and guys started to pick him apart.

This is a good video showing Tysons skill.

good video, man. thank you.

Awesome analysis thank you very much I agree with it totally

You want to see that hop-shift executed brilliantly today? Watch Lomo do it, its essentially the same thing that Matrix has reinvented in his own way. Tyson was the greatest defensive heavyweight fighter of his generation and honestly, if Cus had lived and that parasite Don King had not gotten ahold of Tyson, his story would have had a much happier ending.

Million dollar science right here. Tyson had to slip into the close frame to land a finishing hit quick against these mountains. The bobbing and ducking kept him alive and confused opponents. He created his own brand and comfort style to open the big fighters defense. But if he didn't get in and do his plan fast, energy and cardio started to evaporate. Not to mention the huge damage he was taking when they touched him. Rounds 2 and beyond were dark times.

Thank you.....great video

Best of all time

I watched this vid about two year ago finally found it

Spot on

Subbed, this is a good video.

No dislikes, congrats and thanks for great video!

Great break down. I'm going to be trying this in shadow boxing.

Nice breakdown dude. I can appreciate it more as I'm reading Mike Tyson's new book "Iron Ambition: My Life with Cus D'Amato".

Twist and spring.

Great video, man. I agree with the comments below. Dish out more installments in the Special Moves series.

Very good

Saw him on the Joe Rogan Podcast where he says since the age of 14-15 Cus D’Mato also put him through Hypnotherapy Mike Tyson had a computerised Boxing Brain that just destroyed his opponents Once Team Rooney was gone so was the Cus D’Mato Method Those were his best years

Thank you!

MORE SPECIAL MOVES!

Nice video

Ty sir

Good video ! I'm wondering if D'Amato explicitly taught certain sequences, or whether it was just a consequence of his explosive style of footwork (not sure exactly what to call it), where he taught basically to spring into a new position to take you out of the opponents line of fire or to re-orient yourself as necessary.

Thats some sweet science

Where are the new speical moves videos? You have two :( I wanna see a the flicker jab next.

very gooood!

Tyson was the best ever

mike era uma lenda.

WHOA!! SKILLS!!

Ricky Hatton used this a lot in his career and was great at it. Look at the Hatton VS Castillo fight

Thank you!!!!

Mike Tyson is truly a case where victory defeated him..if he stayed on the straight and narrow even after cus died there wouldn’t be any GOAT discussions

Tyson said recently that D’Amato called it twisting

Good vid

The Fitzsimmons shift, as described in Jack Dempsey's book, "Championship Fighting and Aggressive Defence"

Can you do one on the lomo shift/hop ?

Worth a watch if you check out rjj art of the hook shows a more blown up exaggerated example of this and it really does make it easier to understand and feel the power increase your making when you use this even in the short snap version usable in a realistice scenarios. My experience is even though i have strong lead left hook this shift gives me more power in my lead left than a stationary right cross or overhand right. But the beauty is it works for both orientations.

loved it

Thith video ith very uthful. Thank you very muth.

Always said if you don't know Tyson had some of the best footwork ever. You don't know boxing. Boxing is mental thought focused on footwork and balance.

What type of music is in the background ? What's it called?

Great video, man. Hey, could you tell me what's the name of that blues playing on the video?

clever video

Is it still called a D’Amato shift if you move off the back leg? The motion is essentially the same but your stance is not switched like when you lead with the front leg.

tyson was a converted southpaw ,hence he looks off balance but it also gave h power on both sides of the plate as teddy atlas puts it - i thought e,body knew this !

Mike was a beast in his early days and amazing but Mike ended up being one of the biggest underachieving fighters in history. Mike could have been the real TBE.

i read somewhere tyson was a converted southpaw , is this true ?

I read Tyson was a southpaw and was trained to fight orthodox. Maybe that made it easy for him to make those shifts and still generate so much power