South Paws?

[shinobi187]

Hi, just started boxing at the new gym. When I told the coach that I was a left hander he was pleased and told me that it would be an advantage to me if I ever decided to do comps. Could somebody please explain why being a southpaw can give you an advantage?

thanx ;)

[Stan O'Kella]

Simple reasons, most boxers are orthodox, so they are used to sparring or fighting other orthodox fighters, so against a southpaw its angles they are not used to, where as you will mainly be against orthodox so you are used to the angles that orthodox punches come from.

Because of the opposite stance there are punches that both are more open to than against someone with the same stance but thses cancel each other out as you are both open to em in my opnion.

There are schools of thought that if you are left handed they you should fight in an orthodox stance, same for right handed southpaws, can give a different element to your game, a bit extra to the jab, and the lead hook as its your dominant hand.

[JohnnyX]

Some stuff that Mr Google kindly found for me:

There is a saying in boxing that southpaws should be drowned at birth. This is because southpaws are the hardest to deal with. All of their punches come from a different direction than what boxers are trained to expect.

As a southpaw, you have the luxury of training with an opponent in mind who hardly ever if at all trains to fight against you. To an orthodox fighter, your attack feels all wrong. Your jab comes from the "wrong" side, same with your hook and cross. There are advantages to this. Just like a wrestler who conditions himself to attack the left side. People don't train for that, and it catches them off guard.

Boxing is an art of reflexes. The opponent attacks, and there is only time for a trigger response. A southpaw fighter gives an orthodox fighter fits, since the orthodox fighter generally doesn't have the correct responses to a southpaw attack ingrained in his mind.

When you are facing an orthodox lead as a southpaw, you want to place your lead foot outside his lead foot. That is, your right foot should be outside his left. Now he can't line up his cross, but he's right in the firing line of yours.

As a general habit, you want to keep circling outside that lead foot of his. This would be to your right. Stay active with your lead hand. Watch for him to replace his lead foot and set up his cross. As he goes to move his foot, let your cross go before he plants that foot and you'll catch him.

Often, it will feel so "wrong" for an orthodox lead opponent to face you, that he will change his lead right there just to "match up" with you. Now you've got him. This is a major mistake on his part, and one I've seen many times. The opponent changes his lead to match yours, but now he doesn't have his arsenal anymore. He doesn't have a jab any more. He DEFINITELY doesn't have a cross anymore, since it takes years to develop a knockout cross with the lesser hand. He doesn't know how to attack with the power hand forward and not telegraph. Add to this the fact that he doesn't have the reflexes to slip effectively with a different lead, and now he's crippled.

At a fine-tuned advanced level, this really throws a monkey wrench in an opponent's machine. Switching leads without spending a long time preparing for that contingency is a recipe for disaster. Southpaws generally force this choice on the man who can't make his normal game plan work.

A southpaw's biggest concern -- as far as the opponent's boxing weapons -- is the right cross. Southpaws are susceptible to the right cross more than any other punch. This relates to the earlier tip on staying outside his lead foot. There are many ways to defeat a right cross, depending on a number of variables: your reach and height relative to his, timing, range, types of movement, which weapons you stress in your arsenal, etc. In general, you want to watch your range. Some fighters will be gutsy about throwing their cross if they are confident in landing it. *You* initiate the combinations. Set his weight on his back foot, so he can't throw a short counter cross as you're coming in, etc. Make him adjust to *your* timing. Keep him very occupied with your lead hand. This can vary from jabs, feints, lead straights, etc.

When he does throw the right cross, make him reach with it. Do not be cowed into backing up when he throws it. Pounce on him. Learn to throw sharp counter combinations as he is overextended after throwing the cross. One of a boxer's biggest dilemmas when facing another man who can box is knowing when to let the cross go. It's the gutsiest punch in boxing.

Do not allow him to back you up in setting up his right cross. That is his best time to land it.

A southpaw is most dangerous to an orthodox fighter when he has the better, more active lead hand. Combined with good footwork, closed posture, head mobility, etc., you want to be the one with the dominating lead. It also helps to have the greater reach, and speed.

Cheers. :)

[MartialArtsSnob]

I love being one of the sinister people :D One great thing is that teachers seem to like to train the dominant side in most techniques, what this means is that I while the class is working their natural strength I get to work on my weakness. I't soooo unfair :D

[Mushroom]

I was taught to use both hands equally, that way I can adjust to any situation or fake out the other guy when the time is right.
The bad thing is that I would get confused sometimes and end up thinking about it too much rather than just fighting.
In the end my right hand is the dominant one. However, some guys just fight Southpaw anyway, even though they are right handed, its just their natural fighting position.. :confused:

[MartialArtsSnob]

I was taught to use both hands equally, that way I can adjust to any situation or fake out the other guy when the time is right.
The bad thing is that I would get confused sometimes and end up thinking about it too much rather than just fighting.
In the end my right hand is the dominant one. However, some guys just fight Southpaw anyway, even though they are right handed, its just their natural fighting position.. :confused:

Shroom, Are you talking about fighting? or boxing?

[shinobi187]

Thanks for your replies everyone I found them very useful :)

[johndoch]

Southpaws should watch out for the orthodox left hook. Most orthodox fighters know that southpaws usually circle to the right to negate the cross by getting their lead (right) foot outside of the orthodox fighters lead (left).

A common tactic adopted by the orthodox fighter is to lead with the right cross immediately followed by left hook. The cross is the feint and the hook is there to catch the southpaw as they shift to their right avoiding the cross. The same tactic can be applied by the southpaw, only left cross - right hook

[Mushroom]

Shroom, Are you talking about fighting? or boxing?

boxing and k-boxing dude. :D