So I've been fighting for years. Suddenly I'm 30, and my body doesn't heal the same way it did before. I injured my left knee, and as a result I've switched stances to nurse it. I'm an orthodox fighter (left hand, left foot forward) and always thought I was pretty good in southpaw stance. Turns out, I'm only good in southpaw when I can fall back on orthodox if I get in trouble.

So....any tips for a brand new southpaw? I'm gonna be fighting this way for a good 4 months apparently. I never had trouble fighting against southpaws, and I always knew enough to keep my toes outside of theirs and watch for the straight left.
What should be my main focus?

Footwork, no question. If you have been boxing for a while, other areas such as defence and punching should be fairly well developed. The transition to southpaw will be less painful in those areas.

What you need to do is get your movement and footwork correct. This means going back to basics.

Try this:

Stand in a southpaw stance with your guard up. Bounce on the balls of your feet. Imagine you are facing North on a compass. Bounce round 90 degrees to face East. Then again to face South, then again to face West, then back again to North... Do this a few times.

Once you have done this clockwise, try doing it counter-clockwise (i.e. instead of going North to East, start by going North to West etc...)

Once you've did this, try going 180 degrees, i.e from North to South, then back again....


The idea here is to get you use to adjusting your position quickly without compromising your stance, balance & guard.

This is very old but very effective drill. An awful lot of Olympic teams still use this very drill, even though they are at the top of the tree.

Very good drill and it should help.

I feel you Boomer.

People think it's so damn easy to transit from one stance to another, they can just do it on the fly in the ring. Wrong.

I'm having so much problem with orthodox because I've always been a southpaw (I am right handed btw).

The saying "Think in an mirror image, and you'll be fine" doesn't work.

I've always relied on going back to southpaw when things get out of hand, but recently I've pushed myself to remain orthodox because as I grow older, I can't afford trading hits anymore.

One thing you can try is to do some corner practice, and lots and lots of shadow boxing. Corner practice is when you're in the corner and need to defend yourself from a rush while unable to move away. You should be familiar with this but man it's hard when you're unable to fight in your 'natural' way.

Other than that, follow PW's words. He's older than me, he knows more. That's for sure.

-Taison out

I think I'm getting this southpaw thing....in theory at least. I've been studying martial arts so long, I forgot what it was like to be "scared" again.

I forced myself to stay "in there" and box as a southy, and I've been taking serious lumps. The new guys love it...they call it "target practice" and "retribution" since they can't touch me when I'm orthodox.

I appreciate the input...footwork seems to be helping some, but it also seems to give me a tendancy to run. I guess staying put to get some confidednce is what I really need right now. In the meantime I'll be earning my new nickname..."Target"

Im a southpaw first and orthodox second, although Im right handed. Since Im right handed my strong hand becomes my lead in southpaw. So for me, its just a matter of making sure my lead hand is stronger than his. Since his lead is his weak hand, it should be easy. If you dont have that then Id work on my footwork and also be sure to try and get to the outside of his lead.