"Sufficiently dealing with a southpaw stance is one of the most difficult situations for an orthodox boxer. "In my teenaged days in New York, when I used to fight in Golden Gloves and Empire Games, opposing coaches would never let their fighter warm-up in the southpaw position. "Then, when the bell rang, they would come out as southpaw and I'd lost the first round with only 60 seconds to absorb instructions for the second of three rounds. I lost all four fights I contested against southpaws in the amateur ranks. "You're trained to expect certain punches coming from certain sides, and when you're faced with a southpaw, they come from the opposite sides and this throws you off. "The southpaw who can hit is dangerous because he blindsides you and throws a hard shot from an angle you do not see. "Joe Calzaghe put me on my back for the first time in my life in just 15 seconds because I simply did not see the punch coming. "Not even the world's hardest pound-for-pound punchers - Richard Burton, Anthony Logan, Nigel Benn, Lindell Holmes and Henry Wharton - could put me on my back. Yet Calzaghe, a southpaw, managed to do so in next to no time. "What worked for me was circling anti-clockwise, away from the southpaws jab and hook, and beating him to the punch with your left hook against his straight left, since you are nearer with your short punch and he is further with his long punch."
wait... so he circled toward their power hands? no wonder he was getting dropped.... if you do circle towards the power hand, what seems to work best is timing the cross and countering with a slip [EDIT: slip outside the cross] and a rear uppercut - I do this and have seen a lot of pros use it. may also want to fire stiff jabs down the middle if you're stepping that way too - try to aim for dead center but if you can't then fire it more to their rear side than their lead side, make sure to watch out for the counter hook. If they parry the jab with their rear, then they might open themselves up for the cross - again, watch out for that hook.
From what I've seen, if you're going to go counter-clockwise, it's best to get yourself all the way to that side, so you're outside the left hand. Otherwise, circling clockwise away from the power hand works best, I agree. He's right about the angles. Turning a southpaw looks so easy when you see an elite pro do it, but it's so odd when you're actually in there with one, especially if they're fleet footed. They're on one side, then suddenly on the other.
ive heard turning southpaw against a southpaw is a good idea. but not everyone can do this ofcourse. you have to be able to hit hard with both hands.
