I have recently been watching a lot of old films of fights from the early 1900’s through about 1917. I noticed I have not seen a single southpaw that I can recall and it got me to thinking about it. Did any notable fighters use a southpaw stance during the late 1800’s to early 1900’s? Surely there were some left-handed fighters but I’m wondering if they were all taught to fight orthodox regardless of their strong side. What is the earliest example you can think of for a fighter using a southpaw stance?
Tiger Flowers and Young Corbett lll are the earliest examples I can think of. Being a southpaw back then was frowned upon so it was generally forced of them to fight orthodox
By the way, the earliest example I could find was Al McCoy, who began his career around 1910 and won the middleweight title in 1914.
My mom is left handed and grew up in the 1950s and they were constantly trying to get her to do things right handed, so as mentioned above, left handedness was frowned on in every way even in the relatively recent past. Go back far enough and it was considered evil.
BTW, great topic. I'm a leftie and was dissuaded from being so by the sisters.... in the late 1970's.
Other pre-WW1 southpaws who deserve a mention include George KO Chaney (debut 1910), Johnny Wilson (1912), Lew Tendler (1913), and Fred Fulton (1913). The only southpaw I can think of, who fought in the late 1800's is Mike Schreck (1899)… but there must have been other lesser known ones as well, from that period. Though probably not an awful lot (I would guess!).
My uncle growing up and going to school in Westchester, Los Angeles was a lefty .. Hand tied behind his back, swatted with a stick, etc … Got sick of it quit school.. He ended up glassing surfboards, working on ranches, etc. Finally found his passion in painting homes. Did all the prep work, sanding, painting , finishing work, etc. himself, no crew. Worked on multimillion dollar homes, beach area Los Angeles. Sometimes it would take him well over 6 months to finish a home but he was the best and in high demand. And he did it all with his Left !!
