Left handed orthodox fighters and right handed southpaws

Something that came up on another thread was the issue of boxers adopting an 'unnatural' stance.

HumanWindmill informed me that there have been many instances of lefties (left handed folk, not hippy liberals) fighting with an orthodox stance, whilst the case of Victor Ortiz being a 'right-handed southpaw' was met with surprise.

I had thought that southpaws held the inherent advantage of awkwardness over orthodox fighters. With the left handed vs right handed ratio favouring the right, surely a southpaw would be used to fighting orthodox fighters. Orthodox fighters would also be used to this, which is where the relative unfamiliarity would come when facing a southpaw.

Given this assumption, why would a left hander give up this advantage? It makes far more sense to me for a right hander to adopt a southpaw stance than the other way round, to gain the advantage rather than losing it, yet HumanWindmill stated that this was less common than a left hander fighting orthodox.

Also, which famous fighters fought 'wrong handed' (if that is an acceptable term)? I know that some could/can switch, but who excelled using only or primarily their 'wrong' stance?

I'm asking this with a view to learning something.

Cheers.

My brother is left handed but fights orthodox. Im right handed but can fight orthodox and southpaw plus I do Judo so I can beat him in a boxing match and also in a streetfight using MMA style throws, Kimoras and Armbars etc. Plus I can armwrestle better with my left hand. Not that this has much relevance to your topic

Corbett, Jeffries, Carmen Basilio and Oscar De La Hoya are just four ATGs who were natural lefties but converted, Gialloblu. Gerry Cooney is another who is a natural lefty. I have no idea why they converted, though a plausible theory might be that, despite their enjoying the advantage of relative unfamiliarity and awkwardness for a right hander, they are also handicapped in throwing the ' power shots,' which might explain why so few southpaws have been regarded as murderous hitters. ( There are exceptions, of course, but the principle holds. )

Fascinating topic.

Marco Antonio Barrera was left handed but fought orthodox

Noel Gallagher is left handed but plays guitar right handed. Hendrix the master was left handed and played it as a lefty. Hendrix also got a lot of his inspiration from playing saxophone solos on the guitar. I dont really listen to Hendrix though. Doesnt rock my boat

I think Frazier might have been a lefty but fought orthodox.

Miguel Cotto is left handed but fights in an orthodox stance.

Think a lot of Ingle's fighters are right handed but fight southpaw. Ingle is of the opinion that as you use the jab most in fights and it is your bread and butter punch it makes sense to lead off with your stronger hand.

rowley wrote:Think a lot of Ingle's fighters are right handed but fight southpaw. Ingle is of the opinion that as you use the jab most in fights and it is your bread and butter punch it makes sense to lead off with your stronger hand.

That's interesting rowley, and maybe going against the grain somewhat.

A stronger jab with a weaker follow-up or a weaker jab with a stronger follow-up?

Maybe plenty of boxers would prefer their power to be unleashed in a bigger shot but if you're a jab-jab-jab kind of fighter, why not?

Nice information. Cheers.

wasn't enry's hammer so strong because he was a lefty fighting off an orthodox stance ?

makes sense, if you have KO power in both hands, you may as well use the strongest hand to jab and wear down/damage opponent, as if you land the straight it would be a KO anyways.

Sonny Liston is often thought to have been a southpaw.

alfredperami wrote:wasn't enry's hammer so strong because he was a lefty fighting off an orthodox stance ?

He was a plasterer by trade and his left was his trowel hand, and he used to claim that that was why his left was his better punch