What is Southpaw Stance in Boxing and MMA?

Boxing is full of powerful punches . One after the other, there are punches that are very powerful enough to kill an average person if they are done with proper technique and at the right spot. If you are a beginner in boxing, you may often be confused by seeing a lot of punches in boxing. At first, it will be very difficult for you to select the right punch to start practicing for. There are punches in boxing that are considered very powerful, and yet there are punches in boxing that are called less powerful. But after all, you should start with training punches that are relatively safe and not very powerful.

As you continue your journey in the game of boxing and train various types of punches, you should then go for learning and practicing powerful punches. Then, you will know pretty much about boxing, and you will be able to make powerful punches at others as well as save yourself against powerful punches. One of those powerful punches that you should definitely consider for training is the southpaw stance. This article will dive into the most powerful boxing punch southpaw stance. You will learn how you can make the punch perfectly.

The southpaw stance in boxing is the common stance in which you move your right foot and right hand forward to throw the right jab, followed by the right hook and left cross. It is opposite to the orthodox stance in boxing, in which you are moving forward with your left foot and hand. Southpaw stance is considered the standard and the best stance for left handed fighters.

No, the southpaw is not only used in boxing. It is used in many other sports as well. Southpaw was once very famous in baseball. It is now used in mixed martial arts, boxing, baseball, and Muay Thai as well.

• Let's talk about southpaw fighting strategies. These strategies will be useful for you if you are a southpaw yourself fighting an orthodox fighter or if you are orthodox fighting a southpaw fighter. Because, in reality, it is the same thing. It is just the opposite. People talk about the southpaw advantage and what that is exactly. It is just that the southpaw has more experience.

• They repped it out more times because there are more orthodox fighters in the world than there are southpaws. So they have the experience fighting these orthodox right-handed fighters. For the words left or right, you can also use the terms inside or outside. Inside means towards your opponent’s chest side, and outside means towards the backside of your opponent.

• Let's take a look at the first strategy. So, the most common southpaw fighting strategy that most people are familiar with is to keep your lead foot on the outside of your opponent's lead foot, but you also need to keep your lead hand on the outside as well to manipulate that jabbing hand. One of the best Southpaw kickboxers in the world is Giorgio Petrosyan, always manipulating that lead hand, keeping his hand on the outside, and getting a more dominant position.

• So, by keeping your lead hand on the outside, you know exactly where that jab hand is. You can push it down out of the way, come over the top with jabs, or down the pipe with crosses of your own. As an orthodox fighter fighting a south ball, it is the same thing: try to keep your foot on the outside, manipulate that jab hand, or come down the pipe with the rear straight.

• The next southpaw strategy is defense against the jab. So you should slip cross-stepping to the outside and then follow up with another punch and a kick or another two punches. When that jab hand comes in, take your head off of the center line, stepping towards the outside towards your opponent's back, getting a better angle. The follow-up with a hook. Follow with the left kick which can be to the legs or to the body.

• It is the exact same thing for an orthodox fighter. Southpaw throws the right jab, and you will slip to the outside. You will see that your opponent is really attacking the body because that's where the liver is. As a southpaw, the liver is going to be a little bit closer to the right hand, the left hook. Then, you can finish with an inside leg kick, which hurts even more than outside leg kicks.

Now, the third strategy is defense through across. It is going to be the same thing but with a drop step. Now, you can move back on the drop step, or you can move directly to the side. It really depends on range and distance, but it also depends on how straight that cross is. If it is more of a looping rear hand, then you really need to get your head out of the way and lower underneath it. So you will have a more exaggerated drop step either one foot or both feet will come off the ground according to the punch that is being thrown at you. But you need to be quick on the counter. As soon as your foot hits the ground, you explode right back into your counter.

• Even if you are a right-handed person, there is an advantage to fighting as a southpaw because you have your most dexterous hand, the hand that you have the most control of is your lead hand and you're also fighting in this unusual stance that is only like 2 out of 10 people in the West. If you go to Asia it's a lot more. In reality, the Asians are more southpaw. Coaches should always tell fighters to try both sides and see which one they like better. The coaches cannot tell their students which one they are more comfortable with. Maybe one of your eyes is stronger. So you need to be like that you never know until you test.

• So, the boxing students should figure it out. So when top people ask do they grab it like this or like that? In some instances, there's a right way and the wrong way. For as far as we know, one way is right, one way is wron,g and sometimes it doesn't make a difference. Grab like you are comfortable because you should do it the way you like to do it. You don't need to do it the way your trainer showed you. So, in this particular instance, it is a question of comfort, like people freak out if you grab a Kimura with your thumb. In some instances, you may grab the kimura with your thumb, and in some instances, you don't. People should be shown both ways. That part is up to them.

• So the orthodox fighters should see what is going to do better for them. Is it an orthodox stance, or is it a southpaw stance? They should try both. They should learn both. They should not stick to one thing throughout their life time and career of boxing. Maybe they are doing a southpaw stance and they can better fight and beat their opponent with the orthodox stance. So, always try both ways.

• Southpaw is a left-hander. If you are a left-handed person, your dominant hand is a left hand. You are probably going to stand with your left foot in the back, your left hand in the back, and your right hand, right foot in the front. Imagine the lines going through, and you are putting your front, the edge of your big toe, on one side of the line and then the heel, the edge of your back heel, on the other side of the line.

• You can even put a little bit of a gap between it even more because if some guys are really big and this still feels too sideways for them, you can even stand a little bit more. From this position, you are not going to be 50-50. You will lift up the back heel a little bit and relax the knees a little. It is not too straight and stiff, but it's not too crouchy. Your weight is going to be about 55 45, a little bit more on the front foot. This would be something really nice. 

• You don’t need to be straight up in the air, and the reason why is because when you have your upper torso straight up your chin. As the fight goes on, your chin will lift to be in line with your torso. That is just how your natural body habit is. So we tilt this a little, it will help you tilt the chin, and why do we tilt this chin? It is because it will take shots on the head, a little bit better because the skull is the strongest part of our body.

• When you start going straight up like this, if you get attacked, you will lean back, and when you lean back, your chin is in the air. When your chin is in the air, you get hit here, and then that is how you get knocked out. So now, just put all your weight forward. It is nice. It allows you to push your opponents back and go forward easily, and when they try to push you back, you don't get pushed back as easily. So keep your way. Keep a little bit more forward.

• Now, the hands inside the gloves are very relaxed. It is only when you punch that. Squeeze and boom! Now contract and put power. Contract all your muscles. Hands are relaxed around the chin level. Don't cover your eyes. Cover your chin only. There is a good range of hand positions. You need to get the jab out quicker or not it is up to you. It doesn't matter, but what's important is that you have a little bit of forward tilt.

• This is a nice position, but you see the arms already ready to punch. When you are straight up like this, it is very weird. It is like that's how you get that weird. From here everything, you will be relaxing; you will be all the slipping and defensive movements and all that, but from here, you are good. You are solid, and then you know you'll practice your step, drag this and that. Step and pivot or pivot the other way.

Many fighters are going to try to do something like putting the elbows. Don't do that. Don't do this kind of elbow position because no matter how much you crunch, you just make your body that much easier to push off balance. When you crunch in, stay big. The elbows will float a little bit and if you do get attacked the body, you can always bring it down. You can always bring it in right, but just leave it out. This is nice. Don't collapse yourself. This makes you slower to attack and also a little bit easier to push over.

The southpaw stance is a very good stance in boxing. The good thing that can be for you is that there are very few boxers who practice it, and they don’t know how to do and make punches in the southpaw stance. So, if you learn it and use that in professional boxing matches, you can be an advantage against your opponent. If you have been a boxer playing in the orthodox stance, you definitely should consider playing in a southpaw stance. This will make you a better boxer and give you many skills. You learn defending, escaping, and attacking techniques throughout your career in boxing in an orthodox stance. Now, when you have learned all such techniques in a southpaw stance, you will definitely be an all-round in boxing. So, try to learn the southpaw stance. Practice it again and again until you become a master at it.