I was watching VS's Thursday night saw this Puerto Rican prospect switch from south paw to orthodox and back, so my question is has there been a sucessful champion that has been able to employ this tactic sucessfully? I am also a bit curious of what some people think of this next question. What would happen if a B+ fighter who is equally skilled in both an orthodox and south paw style fair against an elite boxer? Would he be able to change up enough to keep an elite at bay or an elite being an elite just make light work of the fighter? Anywho thanks for your feedback peace.
there are a ton of guys that were/are great that can fight from both sides. The thing is its really a pretty dangerous thing to do so thats why you dont see it that often as fighters move up the rankings. some would say that that is was cost Hagler in his fight with Leonard. For some reason Hagler thought it was a good thing to fight Ray with a righthanded stance, even with southpaw being what he was best with. Hagler is righthanded but he fought from the southpaw stance, mostly but he did switch alot. I would say that Hagler is about the most successful one that I can think of off hand. Many others did but not really enough to say they were ambidextrous Roy Jones, Pernell Whitaker, Oscar DeLahoya, Shane Mosley are all guys that have switched back right-southpaw none of them did it much at all as the got into the top 10 and on to elite status.
Kelly Pavlik fights from the right but every picture I see of him signing autographs is with his left hand. I could see it as a training nightmare. You have to get to the point where you can fight instinctively. That would mean double training. Might work for some though.
How about Erik in the 12th round of his fight with Pac? That was one of the most intense moments I've ever seen in a boxing match.... Thought he was gonna get KO'd after that awesome performance
Converted southpaw, but still right handed, watch him write or sign autographs. I think that what they mean by that is when he first started fighting he just naturally put his right hand out front, as alot of untrained people do.
are we assuming that the boxer was born Ambidexterous and therefore naturally Ambidexterous ? or are we assuming that the boxer wasn't born Ambidexterous but picked up the coordination through practice?
Hagler is the best example...I'm not sure if he was/is right- or left-handed, but he switched from orthodox to southpaw stance quite often. He's fairly unique in that he actually used it as a real tactic (you can see him change stances between rounds, and at certain strategic points within rounds), and that he used it at the elite level (Leonard, Hearns, etc).
Either as long as the fighter is equally as sharp as a south paw and orthodox. Basically I am just curious more by the fact that they start the fight in an orthodox stance with an elite level guy, but then all of a sudden in the middle rounds he switches stance and fights just as effectively in this stance. would he be able to be successful as a B+ fighter because of this or would the elite fighter just be able to take care of buisness and finish him? You could think of other scenarios such as him switching stances throughout the fight etc, but my real question is even though he fights at a B+ level is he able to sucessfully hang w/ an elite level fighter because he can switch from a south paw and orthodox stance since he is proficient in both? I guess my question is can a lesser fighter with this ability beat a superior fighter?
He was right-handed. He was able to use this to his advantage in the southpaw stance because his jab was basically also a straight right the way he threw it. He often leaped into his jab, and very accurately at that. Whenever he had you hurt, that was the power punch you'd be caught with next, and it was harder to avoid than a normal straight right because he threw it from the jab position. Hagler was great, a very versatile, all around skilled boxer in his prime. I'd personally pick Hagler at his best to beat Hopkins. Monzon is a harder call, and one I think he may have to be the slight underdog.
I thinks thats very impressible, as Pavlik has a very strong right hand! Its unusual for people who from being left handed to orthodox boxing (right handed to southpaw boxing of course) to have such perfect straight power punches like that. They tend to have great hooks on their dominant hand though!