Lets talk about Donaire's switching stance

Amazing isn't he? Look at his last fight in particular. He drastically cut down his opponents effectiveness with his offense by switching from orthodox to southpaw. Mthalane was clearly getting to him by the 3rd round on, landing good right hands and hitting Nonito almost at will with his jab.

So what did Nonito do? switch to southpaw in the 6th and last round to try to negate the right hand and jab of Mthalane and confuse him. And it worked! If you look at the 6th round, Mthalane was missing with alot of shots compared to the previous rounds where he was doing well. His jab got neutralized and his right hand kept missing.

It was far from a great performance from Donaire, but I was really impressed with what he did towards the end of the fight. Shows how he can adapt and adjust to a particularly tough situation. He's got underrated ring intelligence IMO.

And that Maldonado one was a thing of beauty IMO. His left hand was clearly where his KO power was so he switched to southpaw for a split second to take full advantage of that and BOOM! down goes Maldonado with an overhand left hook.

 

it realy is switch hitting at its finest, im not a fan of switchhitting because sometimes fighters can get very scruffy and start scrapping, but donaire's switching is one of the finest and it is deadly for any fighter to deal with

 

I finally found the time to watch the whole fight and I thought Darchinyan performed very impressively.

He dominated every round clearly, except round 7, in which Mijares did his best work. Darchinyan was considerably better than Mijares in every department:

· Superior, effective jab: From the very beginning, he feinted with his jab like a fencer would with his epee, to keep Mijares on his toes. As soon as Mijares was trying to take his jab away, Mijares was beaten to the jab. On some rare occasions, Mijares' jab was faster and got through. It wasn't near as effective as Darchinyan's jab, though.

· Effective combinations: He threw many more combinations, from every angle, in every order, with power behind every punch. He even broke Mijares up with 1-2-3-4s straight down the middle. Whatever combinations Mijares threw weren't effective because many punches missed and they didn't have much power behind them.

· Masterful defence: Darchinyan's defence was very good. He slipped the punches very well, his guard was very tight down the middle and he blocked most of Mijares' straights and hooks to the head with his gloves. Even when Darchinyan missed, he never went out of position much, not allowing Mijares to capitalize. His footwork was much superior throughout.

· Effective counterpunching: As soon as Mijares tried to counterpunch, he was beaten to the punch. When Mijares initiated the attack off the jab, Darchinyan simply ducked the punch or stepped backwards, without getting hit. Darchinyan was measuring the distance by leaning in with his jab, inviting Mijares in, before landing beautiful, hard lefts of his own.

· Versatility and unpredictability: Darchinyan was switching constantly to lead with his left jab. As soon as Mijares was buying the straight right, Darchinyan was landing a left that seemingly came out of nowhere. Darchinyan threw overhand lefts, straight lefts to the body, left hooks, straight rights to the body, overhand rights, and right hooks, all from the same stance. Mijares simply didn't know what to expect. He even hit him directly with uppercuts, without any set-up whatsoever. The overhand left followed by the left uppercut was a killer. It put Mijares down for the count in the first.

· Power, precision and economy: The way he was switching allowed him to arch his way in for big shots and to duck Mijares' counters, if he missed. As soon as Mijares' missed, Darchinyan spun him around and set him up for another big straight left or left uppercut. Darchinyan's every move was calculated and purposeful. He wasted very little energy, compared to Mijares. By the time he got a bit more sloppy in rounds he was conserving energy, Mijares was too hurt and tired to capitalize.

· Calm under pressure: Mijares was becoming more tentative and Darchinyan's jab was hitting him at will, through the guard. He was then feinting a big left only to have Mijares' ducking to avoid it, which allowed him to land a massive left on Mijares' right side, followed by an uppercut if Mijares couldn't get out of the way fast enough. When Mijares started to slip more punches and be more effective with his boxing later on in the fight, Darchinyan didn't panic. He stepped back a bit to gain perspective and attacked with straight lefts to the body. Mijares was inviting Darchinyan in, but Darchinyan was walking the right line between attacking and waiting to counterpunch, throwing some nice combinations.

· Imperious tactical adaptability: By the end of the first round, Darchinyan had outboxed the boxer, had controlled the distance, the ring, the pace of the fight, avoided Mijares' punches and landed at will everything he wanted! His footwork was superior, as was his timing. Mijares tried to counterpunch, unsuccessfully. He tried to read Darchinyan's attacks, unsuccessfully. In the second round, Mijares tried to use his jab more, but Darchinyan was slipping most of the punches and Mijares wasn't putting any power behind his jab anyway. Darchinyan soon managed to turn the round into a slugfest, to his very clear advantage. With his jab proving ineffective, Mijares tried to counterpunch, but didn't get far. He boxed more towards the end of the round, scoring some points, but when he tried to hurt Darchinyan, he ended up worse off.

In the third round, Mijares tried to set up an attack by copying Darchinyan's feinting jab, but Darchinyan simply kept the right distance and tagged Mijares at will. He let Mijares throw first, only to counterpunch him beautifully, with great effect. Darchinyan's defence was just too good for Mijares to be effective. Mijares started to slip Darchinyan's overhand left better and for a little while, he was landing the better shots to the body and Darchinyan kept missing. In the fourth round, Mijares tried to set up an attack by moving in and out more. Darchinyan still controlled the distance to suit himself using his jab as a measuring stick, and tagged Mijares at will. He let Mijares take the initiative and defended beautifully. He slipped a few punches, blocked most of them with his gloves and kept well away enough to make Mijares' punches less effective. He then switched to attack, and tagged Mijares hard with some very nice combinations. Mijares continued by inviting Darchinyan in, trying to counterpunch him. It was Darchinyan's turn to feint, and counterpunch the counterpuncher.

He was winning the game of chess in the middle of the round. Darchinyan was setting his attacks so effectively off the jab, and as soon as he was tagging Mijares, he was putting pressure with very well timed, precise punches, pushing Mijares backwards. It's hard to forget how elegantly he was feinting to invite Mijares straight onto one of his left uppercuts. Darchinyan continued to employ these tactics with success for the next four rounds.

· Deadly finishing skills: Darchinyan had hurt Mijares all night and capitalized with damaging combinations every time he hurt him. Darchinyan showed great finishing skills to close the show in the 9th round.

All in all, the best performance I’ve seen in a long time. Congratulations to Vic Darchinyan!

 

It's always good to be able to switch stances.. Not only can it confuse an opponent sometimes, but if you're unsuccessful in one stance, you can always switch it up.. Donaire is very good at this and will cause anyone problems I think..

 

Its one of the best moves against guys who like to load up on their punches.

 

He did Taekwondo? I guess that makes alot of sense. Switch-hitting is pretty much normal for those guys.

Donaire makes it look easy. And he doesn't just switch just for the hell of it. Every switch-hitting he does has a purpose and is part of a strategy. He's one the smartest guys in boxing right now IMO.

 

Donaire did not switch to southpaw to throw that left hook against Darchinyan (I'm not sure if thats what you're implying?)

He throws that left hook from an orthodox stance, as most left hooks are thrown. With the left foot in front of the right foot.

Also when you say "combo of straight right and left hook KD Maldo in 7th", I don't remember the KD (though i did watch the fight). However, it doesn't sound like he switched to southpaw at all.

 

He did mate. Watch that round again and you'll see. He was battering Maldonado but Maldonado won't go down. So Donaire switched to southpaw and hit him with an overhand left hook which finally KD'd Maldonado.

 

To see the best switch hitting, look at the Sheffield fighters such as Naz, Witter, and, the originator of 'The Sheffield Style' Herol Graham.

Tricky fighters. Coupled with Naz's freakish power, devastating. Without the power, watch Herol Graham vs. Julian Jackson.

 

It wasnt very effective. I was dissapointed in the way ND fought. He still has alot to prove.

 

I LOVE watching Naz switch-hit. He does that very confusing move on top of having a very unorthodox style himself. And its pretty effective that it leaves a "WTF!" expression on his opponents' faces.

What do you think of Donaire's switch-hitting flea?