I'm a natural southpaw and was wondering if theirs any point at all in also learning orthodox. Had a coach for about a year I guess and now just exercise on the heavy bag and use boxing as self defense if I ever have to use it.
There's value in it, but to be honest, very little. The value comes from diversifying your arsenal and adding an additional layer of complexity to your boxing. Of course, that only assumes you can do it WELL, and most of us ain't gifted like Lomachenko. I'm am orthodox fighter who can also fight in southpaw, but i have no illusions that I'm an effective fighter in SP. It takes A LOT of practice just to get to a point of not totally sucking at it. Fighting "effectively" is another story entirely. Secondly, the southpaw stance serves you well with both orthodox fighters, as well as southpaws since they too are more accustomed to the angles of orthodox fighters. So, your ability to fight in orthodox stance would be virtually pointless. Embrace your SP and that fact that we hate you so much...lol.
...btw...I missed the part where you say you're just doing it for exercise and self defense. So, to reiterate my point more strongly....yes, practicing orthodox stance would be 100% a waste of time for you.
Always learn the other stance becuase it lets you know your opponents better at different angles. i taught myself southpaw stance for a year and i get much harder punches at different angles and this ALWAYS helps keeping your opponents guessing and have less game plan for you. Even in in self defense is more a reason to do it because you never know what angle you are going to be at if attacked!
