I'm sure this question has been asked a lot already, but thought I'd ask anyways for my situation. This guy I was sparring today was kicking my ass for most of the 1st two rounds. Halfway through round 3 he decided to switch to southpaw all of a sudden. I'm not sure why. I don't really know how to fight southpaws, so I decided to switch to southpaw too. Surprisingly I had the upperhand when we were both in the southpaw stance, and I was able to land some good jabs while he backed off and quickly switched back to orthodox. I also noticed that when we're both in the orthodox stance, he likes to slip inside my jab and pivot to his left, so I started to feint the jab, switch to southpaw when he slipped and started jabbing and moving to my right at the same time when he tried to pivot to his left. The angle I was attacking him from made it pretty much impossible for him to hit me back. The only other time I've ever sparred in the southpaw stance is when I sparred an actual southpaw, and I did much better than when I was fighting in the orthodox stance. Even though I still have a LOT of stuff I need to work on in my regular orthodox stance, you think it might be worth it to practice shadowboxing/hitting the bag in the southpaw stance once in a while considering the "success" I've had when switching to southpaw? And if I'm struggling with an opponent while in the orthodox stance, are there any cons to trying southpaw midway through the match just to see if it helps? Thanks in advance.
1. I always spend at least 10-20% of the time just practicing southpaw. Because many great fighter are able to fluidly switch the two and sometimes my left just gets plain tired from all the jabbing. 2. Southpaws have virtually every advantage in boxing, even at the pro level a southpaw of average ability can frustrate a objectively better ortodox fighter just because he is seeing punches from unusual angles, being countered from unusual angles, has to worry about getting his foot stepped on 3. Gentleman Jim James Corbett, was a natural left handed boxer who converted to orthodox style to punish people with a left hook (a punch he invented) and a left jab. There is a huge advantage to having your power hand as your lead hand, especially when your opponent isn't expecting it. 4. If you are losing, you gotta try something different, no point in trying the same thing in a losing bout. 5. Having your hook as a power punch is a huge advantage, it is just damn hard to defend the southpaw. Not to mention now your left hand is also going to be stronger. Normally you won't even land a big right. 6. Make sure you do southpaw right, you now have to circle right. Half the time a south paw can just throw a big overhand left with reckless abandoned,unless you're fighting a guy with amazing speed or sonny liston power he ain't going to hurt you because if you miss he will only be able to hit you with the left if you do the right footwork. 7. An extremely skilled orthodox fight can destruct a southpaw easily. He knows the angles you will use, and most south paws never learn to adjust them because most orthodox fighters never learn how to counter south paws punches properly. I fought a southpaw and circled to his power hand (conventional no no), to lure him to throw big lefts. I saw all his lefts coming was able to dodge them move in and punch him off balance as missing his power punch already caused him to lose a bit of balance. Ref stopped the fight, but I wasn't really even hurting him after I dropped him the 4th time in the bout. 8. A skilled orthodox fighter will be able to neutralize your power hand (right) and evade your left. So if you're getting nailed worst, don't do it. But do what works.
better to try and be great at one stance rather than just good at two. ward is a switch hitter though
Learn to box. Seriously, switching stances to force a matched pair is what you do when both boxers are underdeveloped. You could have put just as bad of a beating on him had you fought the match-up intelligently. I am not trying to come off like a jerk, but try your best to skip passed the initial desire to make boxing easier. Converting to southpaw is what people do to make headway early in their development, instead of learning the science. Walk to your left, keep your foot outside his, set up the Cross, paw his jab attempts down and hook over them often. Learn the match-up. You'll develop into a better boxer.
