Eyesight Orthodox/Southpaws

[Youngblood]

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.

[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.

[Bomp]

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.

[RozzySean]

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.

[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.

[RozzySean]

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.

[Howlin Mad Missy]

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.