Thread: Eyesight Orthodox/Southpaws

I'm sure there's another thread knocking about that covers this but I can't find it...

Scrap you got me thinking.

How does the idea of eyesight/dominance relate to boxers who are natural southpaws but are converted like De la Hoya and Barrera? Would it be a case of that their bodies adjusted to the switch in stance OR they should have been fighting as othodox anyway regardless of hand dominance?

It takes so much detail to explain, it would take pages to explain the reasons why and why not. Interestingly the Cubans had the idea of making all their Fighters Southpaws, because the adaptions helped them as 4 x 2 Amatuers. But underlying Biomechanics tells you its not a good idea, the eyes control the feet also. Most of your Perifarell vision comes through the dominant eye. The less dominant eye is is more short sighted than the dominant, its swings and roundabouts. But Nuerons which control memory and movement are hard to adapt because of eyes those you cant change, saying that now they can be changed thrrough lasers surgery, but you cant change Genes. If that makes sense then youre a better man than me Gunga Din

interesting and food for thought.

Scrap showed me a neat lil trick to sort out the dominance. I seriously was not sure because I have an ease in southpaw with my hands that tended to make me feel I might have been trained as orthodox when I was naturally southpaw. Wasn't the case.

Kinda cool. I'll still work on both but it helped put some questions to rest.

Dont know if you have ever noticed, when looking and concentrating at an object. We always turn our Heads slightly to the dominant eye being able to observe better.

Originally Posted by Scrap

Dont know if you have ever noticed, when looking and concentrating at an object. We always turn our Heads slightly to the dominant eye being able to observe better.

I had never noticed that (or even considered it) until right now and the way I look at this monitor, you mean tilt your head in the direction so your weak eye seems partially blocked by your nose? If that's the case then I'm certainly left eye dominant which makes sense as before even going to the boxing gym I felt it always MUCH more natural to tackle in Rugby leading with my left side.

Edit: doing the tests described on wiki i'm actually right dominant.

So is it better for an orthodox fighter to be left eye dominant? I'm right handed, but left eye dominant. Makes it harder to shoot a rifle.

Rozzy, no but opinions vary depending on your line of thought.most fighters who are right sided who Box Southpaw or vice versa tend to Box on there front foot, their dominant side, Which is okay if youre built to have a fight strong etc, but will struggle with movers eg Hagler. Naz did his best work orthadox, He went southpaw to stop the other guy fighting. Theres plusses and minuses both ways. But the bottom line is Oral perception all great Fighters had it, all great Sportspeople have it.Its called Balance and its better if its Natural.

Originally Posted by Scrap

Rozzy, no but opinions vary depending on your line of thought.most fighters who are right sided who Box Southpaw or vice versa tend to Box on there front foot, their dominant side, Which is okay if youre built to have a fight strong etc, but will struggle with movers eg Hagler. Naz did his best work orthadox, He went southpaw to stop the other guy fighting. Theres plusses and minuses both ways. But the bottom line is Oral perception all great Fighters had it, all great Sportspeople have it.Its called Balance and its better if its Natural.

Maybe that explains why I tend to square up from an orthodox stance. One of my biggest flaws is getting back into proper position after throwing the cross...unless I clean it up with a left hook. That usually gets me back correct. I probably am a little front footed, now that I think about it.

I did a little padwork southpaw today and it's interesting. My stance is actually more natural and I square up less. From orthodox, my elbows have a tendency to get wide. I've had to work a lot to keep them in and sometimes they still open. Southpaw my arms naturally fall into better position. Who know? My jab feels great from southpaw, but that's about it. I may work on it a little, but I'm pretty committed to orthodox at this point.

I still work the bag both ways. I do notice the difference in how solid or fast punches feel.

From southpaw my punches feel faster, especially the jab.
From orthodox things are stronger. I have a good shovel hook (even if I say so myself) but it doesn't feel so good to the head (possibly with being a girl and most people you end up training with are taller you're throwing at an angel.)

My natural tendancy is to be front footed, I am conscious of that. It's interesting to notice how your boxing style changes when you focus on staying evenly balanced.

It's very interesting for me to consider how much is natural and how much learnt. For about 2 and half years I was taught as a southpaw and I feel more evenly balanced that way, orthodox I have to remind myself to be.

Never considered the role of eyesight.

We did used to perform visual reaction drills.
Person holds the pad, the other hand is used to cue, sometimes in front of you sometimes at your peripheral vision. As you got better the cue would become smaller. Good drill.

Good thread,it got me thinking. Im orthodox,and from a life time of doing things right handed,I do indeed pick up things faster out of my right eye then my left.If you come to my right side,I slip better because I see it sooner. Its not even guard and stance,I just see it quicker. Its not even eyesight because I have 20/20 vision,but now that you mention it,I do pick things up faster if its coming from the right then my left.
Hadnt given it too much thought before,I just thought it was an assumptive

Perfect 20/20 vision is found in 1 of 37,000,000 people thats interesting very rare.

Originally Posted by Trainer Monkey

Good thread,it got me thinking. Im orthodox,and from a life time of doing things right handed,I do indeed pick up things faster out of my right eye then my left.If you come to my right side,I slip better because I see it sooner. Its not even guard and stance,I just see it quicker. Its not even eyesight because I have 20/20 vision,but now that you mention it,I do pick things up faster if its coming from the right then my left.
Hadnt given it too much thought before,I just thought it was an assumptive

I see right hands coming much better. I really need to keep my right hand glued to my chin, but I can lower the left guard from time to time to bait a right cross. In drills, I work on ducking the hook all the time, but when it comes down to actual sparring, I don't see the hook coming in time to duck it. If I don't keep the right up, I get nailed. I just don't see the hooking coming that well. Even jabs, it feels very unnatural to slip them to the left and I catch/parry them more than anything. I'm much better at slipping to the left or even countering with my left after blocking a right.

I never though about how my eye dominance played into all this. Definitely a cool thread.

I would be interested to know the eye dominance of certain pro fighters. I wonder if having cross dominant eyes helps you with certain defense style - the philly shell for example which relies on rolling or slipping the straight right and countering off it.

Originally Posted by RozzySean

Originally Posted by Trainer Monkey

Good thread,it got me thinking. Im orthodox,and from a life time of doing things right handed,I do indeed pick up things faster out of my right eye then my left.If you come to my right side,I slip better because I see it sooner. Its not even guard and stance,I just see it quicker. Its not even eyesight because I have 20/20 vision,but now that you mention it,I do pick things up faster if its coming from the right then my left.
Hadnt given it too much thought before,I just thought it was an assumptive

I see right hands coming much better. I really need to keep my right hand glued to my chin, but I can lower the left guard from time to time to bait a right cross. In drills, I work on ducking the hook all the time, but when it comes down to actual sparring, I don't see the hook coming in time to duck it. If I don't keep the right up, I get nailed. I just don't see the hooking coming that well. Even jabs, it feels very unnatural to slip them to the left and I catch/parry them more than anything. I'm much better at slipping to the left or even countering with my left after blocking a right.

I never though about how my eye dominance played into all this. Definitely a cool thread.

I keep a way tighter defense to my left then to my right.I just loose track of shots coming from that side if Im not paying enough attention. It may be hand eye co-ordination or it may be a sight thing. But Ive allways dealt with it by keeping my left side defense as tight as possible.
Good thread regardless