Recently,after watching some footage of Flash Elorde,I was thinking about southpaws that can do well in the inside,just like him,are there really any southpaws who fare well In the inside except him and Hagler?
That's a tough one. There are certainly guys like Manny that were southpaws that were good inside fighters but I wouldn't define him as just an inside guy. He mostly fought at mid range but shots on the inside when he needed too. I would say Vassily Jirov. He was pure hell for a few years at 190 and was one of the most brutal body punchers I have ever seen. Again, he also could fight on the outside when needed but his best work was on the inside ripping body shots.
@AwardedSteak863 I always thought Manny was pretty poor on the inside actually. Like You said, He was very much an middle-range fighter, always on his toes, stepping in... and out. He even had a habit of calling his own break. When opponent would get too close, He would often sort of tap his opponent on the back and look at the ref, asking for a break. Great call with Jirov. There were definitely southapaw with good inside game. Sweet-Pea, Gerry Penalosa for example. Finding a pure inside fighter in southpaw stance could be more difficult. Samson Dutch Boy gym is one guy who comes to mind, but He never competed on elite level so hard to say how effective He was.
There’s quite a number of notable southpaws that could fight in the pocket well. Pernell Whitaker Marvin Hagler Vicente Saldivar Mark Johnson Khaosai Galaxy Joe Calzaghe Michael Nunn Mustafa Hamsho Marvin Johnson Vassily Jirov Bazooka Limón Gerry Peñalosa Vasyl Lomachenko Errol Spence
Cornelius Boza Edwards is a good one. Frank Fletcher and Kevin Kelley are also worth mentioning as well. Most recently we had William Zepeda and Zurdo Ramirez showing some good infighting skills in the southpaw stance.
Pernell Whitaker and Marvin Hagler weren’t “inside fighters”, but they could fight effectively there.
