Do you train in the opposite stance?

[Grocery Stick]

I'll admit that my experience boxing other people has been limited to sparring at my old boxing gym and "mucking around the back yard" with similar sized friends. For my experience fighting in hockey, it was at the highest level of competition possible, and in all the street fights I have been in , I assure you that we were throwing with bad intentions. My MMA experience is limited to a few drop in sessions at a buddy's gym and watching it somewhat often. Most of my perceived expertise in MMA (which isn't much) comes from studying fighters I watch and street fighting, which is similar enough to MMA to answer this question. I realize that the post was about boxing, but I added in the other fighting disciplines because it is common practice for athletes at any level to study and learn techniques and movements from other sports to help give them ideas to help them improve their chosen sport. I also wanted to point out, from personal experience, how important I found switching stances in those other two disciplines was. I even mentioned afterwards that I didn't find nearly as useful in boxing.

As for the running the question by your boxing coach, I absolutely agree! If you spent money on having a coach you might as well get his opinion to get your money's worth. Let's not forget though, that this was one boxing fan, asking a bunch of other boxing fans, on a boxing fan thread, what their thoughts on a particular training exercise are. I'm pretty sure the person asking the question originally understood that they were probably going to get conflicting answers, with some being of use and some being worse than useless, from a wide range of boxing fans, while not necessarily expecting Abel Sanchez or Teddy Atlas to be on here to here to give him the "proper" answer. We are armchair athletes here, simply sharing ideas for a better training program, so if you could kindly take your "arguing just to argue" attitude to the "Is Mayweather a Giant Pu$$y" thread that would be greatly appreciated. Happy ( backyard ) brawling!

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

no

and don't listen to anyone who says they do

best general training advice... run EVERYTHING past your coach

there are only a handful of fighters at the top level who can/have switch-hit successfully

by successfully... I don't mean, they didn't get knocked the fk out... I mean, they actually achieved something against a top-level opponent without... a) reducing their own effectiveness/threat... b) providing their opponent with opportunities

plenty of fighters do it, in spots... but very few do it effectively

not talking about shifting, talking about fighting in the opposite stance... plenty do it, and almost all of them have PLENTY to learn/develop in their traditional stance... so I gotta wonder why they have wasted so much valuable training time working on a style that is highly unlikely to ever be as effective as their traditional style

I love it when fighters switch and immediately cop a right hand down the pipe... funny as fk

Mayweather likely has the best skillset EVER... he is not the greatest, or even close... but his skills as a total package, are next level... his technique is nearly flawless, when he was prime Mayweather had ... a highly educated jab, one of the best you will see... super accurate with GREAT instinctive timing... he had the best lead right-hand in the game, the best jab to the stomach in the game, the best defence in the game, the best IQ in the game... I will stop there

ask yourself why Mayweather only ever fought orthodox ?

first point... Mayweather, and PLENTY of others (nearly all of the genuine All Time Greats) have already proved that switching is unnecessary.. very few did it

second-point... fighting at the top level is mostly instinctive

a genuine world-class fighter (my definition of world-class) who is right at the top of his game... is living in a world of millimetres, not inches... the package you see is the culmination of a lifetimes work, not a 12-week camp... it took a lifetime of effort, building, developing, HONING to get to that point... and every fighter is on the brink of sudden violent failure... keyword = "honing"

honing... refining to the point of being as sharp as possible

fighting at the top level is largely instinctive... if you think, you are gone... fighters do not think at that level, they react instinctively... the thinking happened over the last 20 years along the journey

training in both stances can be detrimental, most coaches will not train kids to fight in both stances... it is more important to start training/developing the technique and split-second instincts that fighters need rather than complicate, and possibly unlearn/hinder, development in the main area that you should be focusing on

multi-tasking = how to fcuk up more than one thing simultaneously

fighters tend to pick up switching later, looking to add another "string" to their bow... but very few ever develop their off-stance to the point where they are as instinctive, therefore effective... because it's all about millimetres at that level

most of the best fighters in history did not need to develop it, and I cannot think of any top ATG's who had a insurmountable problem with southpaws or switch-hitters

most young fighters are fooling themselves when they think that they are making it difficult for their opponent... what they are usually doing, is reducing their own effectiveness and defence

very few fighters are good enough to switch effectively at the top level against a top opponent... it has happened, sure... but only as a rare exception

every fighter who trained in both stances, and did not become a world champion... wasted his time fcuking around doing dumb shlt when he should have been developing/honing the instincts that would carry his career the farthest

the level that your primary skills/abilities can reach, is what will determine success... a bit of additional variety... will not achieve very much, and may not be helpful at all... I see switching get younger/developing fighters in trouble all the time

guys who think that they can simply slip in a bit of practice as a lefty, and be just as good... are dreaming... it takes YEARS to hone your instincts... and switching is more effective against lower-level opponents, but as your opposition improves it will become less effective... the handful of fighters that switched successfully (at the top level), were usually exceptionally gifted with textbook technique... and they likely started practicing in their off-stance as a kid

sorry, that went on a bit long

This is one of the best posts ive ever read on this site. SO. ****ING TRUE. WAY too many fighters are switching nowadays. It has become the it thing to do. You are so damn right, with everything you said.

Ill add that when switching, you're turning into an imposter. A fake southpaw (or orthodox) who has not spent years having punches fly at him while in that stance. BAD MOVE.

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

So who would prefer to fight at a mediocre rate in two stances rather than mastering one stance. Master one stanch then by all means switch it up in training if you want. The 'show off' guys end up getting starched in many instances. MASTER one stance and then we could talk about switching up. But few have even spent the time to truly learn even one stance, let alone two..……......Rockin'

Exactly.. I rate Marvin Hagler as one of the greatest boxers to ever lace up a pair of gloves.. at least top 10.. and he did it. Needless to say, there was only one Marvin Hagler.

The only other guy who does it to a similar level (that i can think of) is Crawford. And you'll notice both Hagler and Crawford reverted back to their natural stances when they needed to throw down or get business done.

[TheReadyTimeBoy]

Another thing I want to say is this: switching stances is unorthodox. unorthodox styles usually fall flat against faster or stronger opponents. Lets say you're a natural orthodox fighter. You switch southpaw sometimes. You even practice alot, roughly 50/50 in both stances. Sure ok.

You then fight a guy who is MUCH faster then what you're used to. great timing also, and very fast at lining up that lead right hand against a southpaw. You're gonna be in serious trouble trying to fight that guy out of a southpaw stance. Same deal if its an opponent who is really strong, and who you need your full range of power and mobility to keep off. Going southpaw against such an opponent is going to get you hurt.

[Bobnweave]

Of course it's good to work both stances but do you understand both stances?

[OctoberRed]

Of course it's good to work both stances but do you understand both stances?

Great point.

[Rockin']

Of course it's good to work both stances but do you understand both stances?

You become programmed while fighting out of your natural stance. Like the lab rats and the light. A cage of rats are doing whatever, when a light suddenly turns on and the rats get an electric shock. The rats all jump from the voltage. Once again the light turns on and the rats get shocked. This happens many, many times. Same thing with being a fighter kinda thing. Get nailed with a right hand and your automatically under the hook. Just like how when the light was turned on with the rats, but the rats received no voltage and they still jumped. Same kinda thing. Be careful switching up. Unless you are new, then you have no clue anyway........Rockin'

[Rockin']

It is common sense ina way to learn both especially since if your either left or right handed its naturally easier to lead with ur strong hand. So whenever u start out in the sport of boxing u tend to lean on ur strong side then learn to use ur back hand, I would think its smarter to lead with ur strong hand since no matter how good u get with ur back hand in either stance ur natural strong hand will always feel stronger an faster throwing it. So that old school way of fighting with ur weak hand as ur lead hand I think is outdated well jus look up what Andre Ward had to say about all this

That's how Bronco McCart was trained. He is not a natural south paw...........Rockin'

[CodeBreaker]

No. I'm a natural lefty and have been using southpaw stance since day 1.

Tried using orthodox stance, and it just felt really weird, awkward, and slow. Throwing a jab with my dominant left hand felt really heavy unlike jabbing with my right hand which feels alot quicker and more fluid. Having to throw a cross using my weaker hand just convinced me more to switch back to the southpaw stance since it just doesn't seem right.

I just learned to love more the perks of being a southpaw, against majority of these fighters who are orthodox. Reminds me of Bud Crawford who usually starts his fights as an orthodox, and after studying and dissecting his opponent for the first few rounds, he then switches to southpaw and just continue to destroy him the rest of the fight.

[boxingfor10yrs]

Yeah, south paw here who trains orthodox. The hardest part is not learning how to punch, but it's the footwork. Makes me realize that's the part that took me the longest.