Learning to fight in a southpaw position? Worth trying?

[Now_Or_Never]

I seem to have good power and quickness to my punches, since fighting a southpaw is so damn awkward do you think its a good idea to learn to fight like one myself?

Abit like Andre Dirrell, Marvin Hagler or Cotto?

[F l i c k e r]

It's not necessary but you can learn to if you want to. Most people just spar with a bunch of southpaws to understand how to fight them better.


It's not worth it if you don't have a good left hand or like to do most of the work with your front hand(ODLH).

[shadeyfizzle]

It's always worth it trying something new just for a sense of understanding and mechanics.

But as far as actually trying it in a fight....there's a saying: "If you cant beat someone fighting the proper way you sure as hell arent going to beat them by switching to southpaw"

[Suckmedry]

Once you are experienced and have had a lot of fights and have everything down, might be something to look at

[Righthandbanger]

tbh the better you get at fighting orthodox the harder it will be to fight southpaw.. read into that what you will

[EzzardFan]

I switched to Southpaw about 3 years ago. It was hell at first but now I'd never go back. I'm reasonably dexterous with both hands, and was born left handed but school forced me to use my right hand. Back then (1975) left handers were still considered to be the spawn of Satan LOL. I wouldn't describe myself as full on ambidextrous, I can only write legibly with my right hand but often hold cups etc in my left hand. My right hand has noticeably more power in it though.

I have a very short reach for my size, I'm 168-175lbs and 6' tall with a 42" chest and a 68" reach, pretty close to Marciano dimensions. Most of my sparring partners have reaches at least 4" longer than mine, and in some cases significantly more. Fighting orthadox I really struggled to hit anything other than air with my right hand until I got inside the other guy. It was hard to get inside with my weaker left hand doing most of the work.

Switching to Southpaw enabled me to benefit from a harder jab, better timing, and more accuracy with my lead. Once inside I can comfortably hit with either hand which opens up a lot of new angles for me.

[Freelancer]

I decided to go for southpaw since I have better control in my right hand and due to my build and technique I'm a lot better on the outside so my leading arm gets used a lot more than the power one. Tried switching to orthodox from time to time but I gave that up a while ago.

IMO it's not worth it to invest time and effort to train in another stance that you might have seldom use for and just focus on the one you know and do best.

[kbpoetree]

its a good idea....i learned southpaw for one reason originally.....injury...i rememberd the fight Hop had with Echols where he hurt his shoulder ....that made me wanna b ready for anything fig..hell if i cant jab w my left arm...learn to switch soutpaw and jab w right arm...i'm not a quitter so an injury like that wouldnt force me out jus to change it up and adapt best way if i had too....course thats best for me since i rely on my jab...if one doesnt rely on jab then wouldnt b best idea to swicth up lol

[Righthandbanger]

I actually had to switch to southpaw mid bout after I dislocated my shoulder (**** know how).. the only hard part of switching sides is losing power in the rear hand, but seeing as my left arm was ****ed I didnt have to worry about that

[the_blueprint]

the first time i sparred i swithched stance naturally, my trainer said that it was good because i was just as good southpaw as i was orthodox, my rear hand just wasnt as powerful and my defence was a little worse. i actually feel more comfortable in a southpaw stance but it doesnt bother me which i do.

so just try it and if you really dont like it, it's not worth the time training as a southpaw