Question about Southpaws

[N Maiberg]

HerbM, this is exactly the way I fight. You are right, it opens up an entirely new side of offense and defense at the same time, while allowing you to put an immense amount of pressure on your opponent.

The simplest way to practice this, in my head. (Note that this style came natural to me, so I just did it from the start.) You just practice taking a step forward with your other leg, and that will automatically make you get into a Southpaw stance, it's the same stance, just mirrored by a simple step forward. Don't cross the legs or do a small jump to change legs, it has to be a smooth transition. So just a step forward with the other leg, same stance, and practice.

That is probably the easiest way to practice it, just do it every now and then, get used to it, and then start doing it for technique at specific times. When you get good at it, you can do it so smoothly the opponent won't notice and all of a sudden the distance he was used to, has dramatically changed, but for you. It's still going to feel natural.

Hope this helped.

[HerbM]

Thanks -- tonight at class I sometimes forgot which hand was forward -- I would just start jabbing and adding combos and have to ask myself which side I was on. Tells me that either side feels good since there is nothing to remind me I am on the 'wrong' side.

Ok, so just step forward.

Another thing I -- think that I -- like to do is to use a circle step with the back leg towards the (current) power hand side and let it slide up a little with a jab from the (old) front hand then a jab from the new front hand as the trailing leg catches up and moves back a little. The idea is to be going around the opponent during the switch.

Is this good? Bad?

[N Maiberg]

It is good, but also predictable after it's been done once or twice if your opponent is aware of it.

What I like to do is turtle up, and after they've punched my guard a little I step back with my leading leg, thus changing stance, without the opponent noticing most likely because he is too busy focusing on my guard. The trick to using this Southpaw/Orthodox switch in a match, is distraction, and making it as smooth and unnotice-able as possible. That's the only way to keep catching the opponent off guard every time.

What you're doing is good, but after two or three times of doing it, a boxer who isn't groggy would probably notice. Try changing it as the opponent steps around you instead, when I do it, it makes them feel cornered, because I'm always directly in their face never giving them a chance to circle around.

Just try and be creative, there are tons of ways to do this without the opponent noticing, and if you learn how to switch at will and you have techniques for distracting them, you can keep doing it over and over in different ways and they will be confused the entire match.