Fighting Leftys need some pointers

Discussion in 'Thai Boxing' started by Bruce Irving, Jul 9, 2005.

  1. Bruce Irving

    Bruce Irving New Member

    s0o tonight was the first time i ever got to spar with a lefty, and i did terrible. i was extremly ****ed becuase i normaly do very well when i spar with right handed people. the fact that the guy had a better reach and about 100 LBs on me i dont factor because i can eat a blow to the head with gear on quite well. just my overall performance made me depressed.

    for about a whole minute i didnt even notice he was lefty and continued to circle to the right(yes slap on me) and had a hard time dodging his cross, then i had a hard time seeing his low kicks. he kicks are really really weak so taking them didnt hurt but it was just the fact that i didnt block them wasnt good. and i had a hard cuting him off when i started to circle left and inside because of his reach. and i realized he was the first person that i didnt get into my clinch which i usually clinch up 2-3 times a round.

    so any comments, pointers, bashing, what ever idc just really annoyed right now and would like to get some sleep soon. thanks
     
  2. duderanch182

    duderanch182 Bored Thaiboxer

    Its hard to say what you should do. What I always say is treat every person you spar and fight with different as each person has different weaknesses and strengths.
    I found with sparring with lefty's you can get a roundhouse on the front of their stomach (if you quick enough) which is quite effective, kicking the inside of the front leg is also quite good, when the throw a jab parry and then throw your own jab. But remember they can always do the exact same back at you. How long have you been doing Thaiboxing for? Cause if feel confident enough try changing your guard to the same as the lefty and could try throwing them off a little and might be easier to get into the clinch this way.
    Let us know how you do next time you spar.
     
  3. nForce

    nForce Banned Banned

    just go for his lead leg with kicks, treat him same as a righty sort of, as in just change your targets
     
  4. Bruce Irving

    Bruce Irving New Member

    i dont think changing fighting stance would do me any good because i know i wouldnt do that in a fight. and i dont wanna sacrafice my Cross becuase it is easily my most devestating punch. i did notice kicks to the ribs were alot easier to get. probably my bad for not exploiting it enough but i dont wanna be to predictable.
     
  5. Jahk Nah Rai

    Jahk Nah Rai Valued Member

    Hrm, you can fight righties but not lefties? Doesn't make sense. Did you circle away from his left side? Why not train your left side and learn to fight from both stances? Your right cross then becomes a very hard jab and your strongest leg, the right leg, will be closer to him. Practice hooking, jab combinations from your lead right hand.
     
  6. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    because then you become a jack of all trades and a master of none. stick to one side and learn to utilise it as good as you can.
     
  7. mai tai

    mai tai Valued Member

    watch most swich hitters in baseball. they tend to be not good from ether side. the gifted few can do it. but...

    as a martial artist unless you do this for a living. training time is limited, it is difficult enough to learn on side much less two.
     
  8. nForce

    nForce Banned Banned

    its more of a natural ability to be as good at both sides, itd be wicked if you were equally good at both sides naturally
     
  9. Jahk Nah Rai

    Jahk Nah Rai Valued Member

    well it's always a good thing to train both sides for situations like this. Sort of like 3 + 2 = 5 but when you switch to 2 + 3 you're completely stumped.
    Either he mirrors the other person's stance or adopts an opposite one. If he adapts to fighting both sides, it wouldn't seem so confusing or strange to him. He can fight right lead and keep his strongest weapons in front to deal with the other guy's rear weapons.
    Another thing to do is completely nullify the other person by fighting him in a clinch range where there's little room for left or right stance differences.
     
  10. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    yeah get him into the clinch where being left or right handed isnt as big a deal.
     
  11. duderanch182

    duderanch182 Bored Thaiboxer

    The only problem with this is the Bruce Irving said he was having trouble getting into the clinch.
    I think being able to change guard is good, you don't have to stay in that stance all the time but it can throw your opponent off. At my gym when we train we have to practise in both guards so most of us know how to throw good blows with both legs and arms.
     
  12. Mushroom

    Mushroom De-powered to come back better than before.

    One of the few times I'm glad to be ambidextrous :D

    All i can say is get the lead leg and just pick your shots. A Southpaw (L) vs Orthodox(R) always makes a not so eventful fight.

    When you watch Boxing and theres the two there. 90% of the time you will see the right handed boxer switch hands.
    This is sometimes due to some frustration that s/he cannot get shots in due to the strange stance. You will never see the leftie do that because psychologically they have the advantage.

    IN MY OPINION - there isnt a difference between the 2. Different fighters either L or R handed doesnt make them any more or less dangerous.

    If it really does bother you, then try to find a sparring partner who is a Leftie and spar with them more.
    Although sparring is my answer to everything :D

    "He's better than me" - SPAR
    "He's taller" - SPAR
    "He's a girl" - SPAR
    "Dude, thats Ernesto Hoost" - SPAR :D
     
  13. Bruce Irving

    Bruce Irving New Member

    southpaw thats the word i was looking for lol. yea the only problem is that i see that guy like once a week and it might not be on a monday or friday (fight nights). and finding southpaws is a little hard. and i had a hard time moving in on him now that i look back at it, because he was taller and probably twice as wide as me. i probably wasnt thinking confidently and might have been worrying about getting hit up close, because i liked being in kicking range for the fact that he didnt have any power behind them

    PS hes a girl spar* LMAO!
     
  14. Jahk Nah Rai

    Jahk Nah Rai Valued Member

    Southpaws are a nuisance because they make everything you do seem wrong. I guess you might have to employ more tactics instead of plowing head on because it's not working too well. Use more faking, feinting, drawing, etc to frustrate and bring him out of his element. For a southpaw, your right cross is a huge concern because his open side is facing your power side. Same goes for your right kick. If your right kick connects with his face, he's out. A wary southpaw will circle away from your left lead leg forcing you to keep up by constantly adjusting your stance and circling right. Cutting him off with good lateral movements can be good here. I don't mean little steps to the left but nice committed sidestepping.
    Your lead left leg will be susceptible to chopping left kicks at which point he may follow with right crosses. You really need to keep up or else you will eat a lot of kicks. You can try the good ol' inside sweep/cut kick to his inside lead leg to break his stance and widen it. It may help to get real low on this one. Or try to steal a step, get in and hook your lead left leg outside his lead right leg to obstruct him. Also be wary of his lead punches because he can basically jab you to death and set you up for a nice left kick.
    You can switch stances but just make sure you've trained your left side well before you do that.
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2005
  15. Jujitm

    Jujitm New Member

    I can fight either side but I fight southpaw even the i'm right handed it's not a naturally skill to fight either side and it didn't take me long to learn to fight southpaw its worth the time too
     

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