Practicing southpaw?

Hey guys, i have recently started at a new boxing club and yesterday we were on the focus pads with a partner and every drill we did we practiced from both orthodox and southpaw. I realized we never practiced from southpaw at my old club and it does not feel very natural to me.
Out of habit i found myself throwing the jab (right hand) hard but with not much snap to it and the cross (left hand) was fast but not not really penetrating the pad like a cross should :/.
When it came time to switch stances i decided to stay in orthodox as i dont think it is worth practicing southpaw if i dont intend to ever fight like that. My partner said "You need to practice things your not so good at" which I generally agree with.
So what do you reckon guys do you practice southpaw (or orthodox if you are naturally southpaw) and do you think it is necessary? The only logic to practicing it i can think of is for self defense purposes if u are caught out on the wrong foot, or for kickboxing/thaiboxing as you are more likely to find yourself in southpaw now and again but even so I would rather spend double the time practicing orthodox than half of that time practicing southpaw. Any Thoughts??

You likely feel awkward because you aren't use to doing it. Learning to switch hit can be a useful tool in a boxing bout if you are able to carry it off, but it takes a lot of practice!

I found it benefical. Being a righty, I never understood how southpaws moved. Having been made to practice like that for a while gave me a little more insight into how a southpaw has to move to set up there punches.

Then again sparring southpaws helps too!

I think that people should have some bilateralism, but for the most part stay with a consistent lead. Having the ability to switch occasionally is coo, because you can change things up on people occasionally to freak them out, land some unorthodox (and heavy) shots, then get back to your standard lead.


-John

There is more to practicing in a naturaly opposite stance than fight application.
In repetition intensive movements such as boxing/MA's, working in only one stance will, in time, build imbalance in the body that will lead to your performance being hampered, and increasing the risk of injury.

Balance your workload, and you balance your body.

in regards to fight application, I am a southpaw, but much prefer to spar orthodox- it ensures that my jab is as strong as possible (nothing more important than that in free sparring IMO), and that my non-dominant hand's shots benefit from full biomechanical potential in power generation. This means, if you can get your footwork functioning, that you will have two good heavy hands, instead of one great hand and one merely passable hand.

being able to switch, also has a positive bearing on fatigue- a change can be as good as a rest.

Having spent the last few months in orthodox, I've discovered that my left hand hits like a bulldozer (i'm a natural rightie) compared to my speedy right.

However, I've got two better hands than one good and one passable as Cord mentioned.

Practicing both should be mandatory imo, it's like learning TKD using only your right leg.

-Taison out

Just as a slight aside, being orthodox or southpaw isn't always to do with what your preferred hand is. Oscar De La Hoya, for example, is left handed, but fights mostly out of an orthodox stance. It's how you make it work.

True that,

On a slight note as well; left handed orthodox boxers are one of the most feared type of boxers out there.

Right handed southpaws are becoming way too common todays as well.

-Taison out