Right handed south paw?

I have always boxed in an orthodox stance as when i first started they said all right handers should stand like that,

Now (a couple years later) im realizing i think i feel more comfortable southpaw , it makes sense as I snowboard and used to skateboard, and i would board in a "goofy" style , which is when you point your feet left like a south paw would stand in boxing almost.

Have you heard of right handed people doing this before ?

Im trying to convert to southpaw now and the punches are going ok , but the footwork is hard to get used to.

i know a couple people who fight othodox and are left handed and the other way
but if its what you feel more comfortable in go for it

I'm a southpaw, and I write and use a fork with my left hand, but I do just about everything else with my right hand.

One thing that I can do a bit that I think will be very useful from time to time in the ring is I can switch from southpaw to orthodox. Maybe you might be able to take advantage of your ability to fight both stances and confuse the crap out of the occasional opponent.

I don't plan on doing this much to try to prevent people from expecting me to switch up on them. Anyone out there switch stances to confuse your opponent? How well does it work for you?

I knew a coach who would make fighters change from orthodox to southpaw if he felt they had too much to correct. He thought that old bad habits in the orthodox style were sometimes impossible to erase. When he made them switch he started them as complete beginners again. They also had to learn to do everything else like brush their teeth as a left handed person. It took something like a year for them to reach to a standard where they could fight again but they were very successful in the end.

As for changing stances mid fight I'm not so sure it's a good idea. I have fought a few exhibitions against a girl who attempts this but I know she's orthodox and she never lands anything as a southy so it doesn't do anything for her except make her look like a bit of a show off. Perhaps it could be timed better though. Maybe very effective if used strategically rather than just for the hell of it. I would worry though that if your opponent is able to catch you mid-transition it could be messy.

glencoffe johnson is a left handed orthodox fighter, so was herny cooper, so is miguel cotto and oscar dela hoya, i've heard rumors that floyd mayweather jr is a lefty aswell but not sure about that.
winky wright is a right hander who fights southpaw. so is urango. and so was marvin hagler if i am not mistaken, although he used to switch quite often.
stallone is actually right handed aswell despite playing a southpaw and left handed person in the rocky movies. so it all really depends on what you feel comfortable with at the end of the day.
however most people new to boxing will adopt a southpaw style as the lead hand tends to do the most work so at first it makes sense to make that hand your dominant hand. but for the best results in my experience you should have your strongest (dominant) arm at the back and use your jabbing hand to set up your right hand (in the case of a right handed person).

It's GENERALLY not a good idea, as you want the speed with the jab and the power with the cross. Like the above user said, it may seem like more sense to use the dominant hand to jab, but with training, the jab becomes very natural with your off hand.

When I first started boxing, I used to switch stances, as I can throw pretty much equally well from either stance. But as I learned more and more, I found myself switching stances less and less, and have become far more comfortable throwing from an orthodox stance. The benefit gained from switching stances (as far as I've seen) tends to be minimal. You're far better off perfecting one stance than trying to use both to a lesser level. The ONLY time I still do it is when I'm having a lot of trouble getting through someone's defense. Then I might switch up and throw a few left straights, then go back to orthodox and hope that I got them to think. Then I can usually proceed with my normal gameplan.

However, some righties do tend to just do everything else lefty. My brother is right handed, but plays hockey, golf and baseball lefty. He doesn't know why, but it just comes natural to him.

If you DO take this route, I STRONGLY suggest you work the hell out of your left arm to build up strength and CONSTANTLY train your left straight to get it up to speed. It will take a lot more work than you'd imagine, but it might pay off in time.

Thanks for the replies guys...

Been spending time moving around and throwing punches as a southpaw, the punches seem to come easy, but the footwork is taking longer and feels a bit awkward at the moment.

I do feel more balanced though , i can slip and throw punches more on balance as a southpaw, it makes sense as I snowboard this way (as i think i said before) which needs alot of weight shifting and balance.

As someone said though, it is good to have your back hand though, so it is a bit weird having a weak cross, though it's not that bad, i think i can try it. It is already very quik i think as im used to jabbing with it , and i can throw multiple lefts in a row quickly unlike I used to be able to do with my right.

Anyway just been trying this stuff at home so gonna have a go as a south paw on the bags tonight at the gym.

It can be confusing so Ill confuse it more. What moves the right shoulder is the lleft , and the left is moved by the right what gives the signal to do it is your eyes which have given you messages from the past, its already happened. If your not on the move youll get hit. Now the dominant eye with better parrifarrel vision wrks the back foot or should through awareness. If you are right handed and want to box southpaw while shadow boxing shut your right eye it will help with foot movement

Really interesting Scrap. So are you saying the dominant eye slows down the foot movement and by eliminating it the body is reacting closer to the present time.

It helps the crossover of feel to the feet rather than relying on the dominant eyes pull in direction and your thought patterns try it it works. Gives the back foot stability, time and tide wait for no man it just keeps the tide out a bit longer.

Great. I'll give it a go. I'm off to the big smoke now. Have a few queries on this. Back later. :)

How long do you think you should work on this Scrap before taking the new footwork into sparring?

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Originally Posted by md

How long do you think you should work on this Scrap before taking the new footwork into sparring?

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You didn't ask me, but Ill an answer anyway which is : when your comfortable with it

MD The line of thought is straight away, because of the psyhcodinamics. I think a little confusition at first helps. But as all things theres a balance.

Hi Scrap - I was just thinking about your eye control principle nd I'm wondering if it could explain why I am often a late starting in boxing competitions?

I take a round or sometimes longer to 'get my eye in' and then find it much easier but have to work hard to make up lost ground. Perhaps I'm not 'getting my eye in' at all but gathering a little info with my eyes and then feeling the distance and timing relying on them less after the initial adjustment?


In my last fight I fought an opponent who was not worried about hitting me hard at all but she was a tricky southpaw who used her angles well. I found that not being hit with much power actually made it harder for me to fight her. I think I can tell where an opponent is more easily by responding immediately to the weight of their punches on my guard or body than by actually seeing them.

Are there methods you can suggest which will lessen the time I take to 'get my eye in' or whatever it is that I'm doing in the first round before I can switch to proper fight mode?

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Originally Posted by Poom

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You didn't ask me, but Ill an answer anyway which is : when your comfortable with it
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Cheers Poom I know what you mean but the problem with some people is they can get comfortable on beds of nails.

Sharla sounds like you're not getting in the optimum performance zone early because of, what's known in sport psychology, as low arousal. I think you mentioned in another post that you spar with guys so I take it you are used to a fair amount of punishment. So it might be that you don't switch on mentally when things feel a little easier.

Ta Scrap, so integrate it.

Sharla I dont know you so Im guessing. Whats your warm up consist of maybe you should look at that. Sometimes fighters before a fight are thinking about what to do and neglect to warm up enougth, nerves confidence they loose on the way to the ring. Old saying paralysis by analysis is very true in many cases, think about it but not to much. If you dont know what to do 15 mins before thinking about it wont Help.

I can see how what both of you are saying might apply to me.

Competing is part of what I want to do but my biggest and most challenging goal would be to improve my ability to spar with the guys because I often find that harder than competing against another girl my size.

I'm also told - by almost every coach have ever had - that I think too much.

I usually have a long warm up though - sometimes an hour long. I start very early since in some of my initial fights I felt like a short warm up was problematic for me. Boxing SA shows are also prone to reshuffling the fight order a lot.

I have found if I start moving around ASAP when they suddenly say I'm fighting 2nd rather than 7th it's less awkward. I'd prefer to warm up for an hour rather than risk not having enough time since my endurance is not bad and I know how to pace the warm up so I don't feel drained going in unless I've been ill.

I mostly skip and do a little shadow. My trainers generally come in one or two fights before I'm up to do a little pad work with me. I guess my warm up doesn't ever involve a lot of punches being thrown in my direction before a fight and it's fairly independent.

Generally fighting in the wrong stance for your hand dominance has worked better for left handers fighting in the orthodox stance. Classic examples are Jake Lamotta, Oscar De La Hoya, and Miguel Cotto. I believe that is because most orthodox fighters have a better cross than lead hook. So having an unusually strong hook might be a surprise advantage. In contrast the most effective southpaw weapon is the left cross. A righty fighting as a southpaw will not have that weapon as a strong part of their arsenal.

not sure where this conversion started but for me when I was doing JKD you always fought with your strong hand forward, the idea being it's stronger/closer so is able to do more work. Any weakness is the rear hand is negated by regular training. I then went to boxing where they insisted I fight orthodox, however when I sparred I switched. My next boxing gym encouraged you to practice switching as they came from the Ingle tradition, but they never forced you to fight any way but what felt natural to you. When I did MT my trainer noted my left kick was harder than my right, go figure. :) Whatever you choose work it well so it becomes natural to you.

There are 900% more righthanded people that could have something to do with it

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Originally Posted by Scrap

Sharla I dont know you so Im guessing. Whats your warm up consist of maybe you should look at that. Sometimes fighters before a fight are thinking about what to do and neglect to warm up enougth, nerves confidence they loose on the way to the ring. Old saying paralysis by analysis is very true in many cases, think about it but not to much. If you dont know what to do 15 mins before thinking about it wont Help.

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excellent read. O0 cc #309

Thats great bro, just keep doing south pawl and u will be great, its jst same as starting boxing again, and the footwork will be good, just do basic stuff, and stick to basics

This threads like a time machine.