Southpaws Who Were Good At Not Getting Nailed By Rights

[GrandpaBernard]

The straight instead of the jab becomes the most important punch when boxing lefties. Which lefties were good at reducing how much they would get hit with rights?

[New England]

for some reason, the first name that jumped to mind was chris byrd

at his best, he was very good at getting out of the way of the big right hands.


the standard answer is going to be pernell whitaker. he's undoubtedly the best defensive southpaw of all time. he boxed masterfully from the outside, unlike many southpaws who are very negative on the outside. he had a jab with some snap

for current fighters you've got dawson. he uses his range to keep from getting hit with jabs and right hands. he's so big that he can hit a man from clear across the ring. and when he takes a half step back as his opponent starts to punch it's a long step, leaving him out of range of the right hand.

martinez is slowing down, but he put on a masterclass for getting out of the way of the right hand when he fought kelly pavlik. he'd end up all but behind pavlik when kelly committed to punches when martinez was on the ropes. he was so athletic when he first came on to the scene it was hard to hit him with right hands. his hands would be at his thighs, and you couldn't even put a jab on him.

and andre ward can slip the punches however the hell he feels like
the man has options. he gets fully inside most often, which completely takes the steam off of the right hand of most big right handed punchers.