Aside from the obvious advantage of offering to right handers a style to which they're not nearly as used to as southpaws are used to handling right handers (because of the fact that there are less soutpaws of course), are southpaws fundamentally ''different'' fighters ?
Objectively speaking (before taking into consideration scientific studies about left and right handed people), a southpaw should not naturally have an advantage over an orthodox fighter (if you leave the experience factor aside also) as they're the mirror image of one another. We always hear that a jab is nullified by a southpaw, but what about the southpaw's jab being nullified by his right handed opponent (mirror image) ?
Both fighters battle to establish their front foot outside of the front foot of the opponent just as they battle to establish their jab over the mirror's jab. Again, nothing there to create a natural advantage, just a tricky situation for both the lefty and the righty.
(Sorry for the lame picture, I wanted a real mirror image for this one.)
So how can we make a case that southpaws are fundamentally different, let alone superior fighters ? And what about fighters who purposely adopt a southpaw style when they're naturally right handed ? These guys are obviously looking for advantages, for that complicating mirror image, for that distance.
We hear a lot of stuff about southpaws. Stuff that tends to distinguish them. Some say they like to get off first, that they're slicker, they use more angles, etc.When I watch matches involving a southpaw and a right hander, I do notice some patterns though. A lot of southpaws like to let their opponent commit himself, come inside, and make them pay for cutting the natural distance (mirror image), they just slip and dodge on their left side so that they can fire a left uppercutt to the liver or rib section. Maybe it is safe to say that a southpaw is a distance and space wizard.
If southpaws are indeed different fighters, could it have something to do with the fact that they naturally rely more on the right side of their brain ?
"We'll keep this light and uncomplicated. Our brain, like the rest of our anatomy, is made up of two halves, a left brain a right brain. There's a big fold that goes from front to back in our brain, essentially dividing it into two distinct and separate parts. Well, almost separate. They are connected to each other by a thick cable of nerves at the base of each brain. This sole link between the two giant processors is called the corpus collosum. Think of it as an Ethernet cable or network connection between two incredibly fast and immensely powerful computer processors, each running different programs from the same input.
The left side of our body is "wired" to the right side of our brain, and vice versa. For whatever reason nature did this cross-over, it applies even to our eyes, which process a majority of their sensory data on opposite sides of the brain."
"In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus of University College London argues that the proportion of left-handers is increasing and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers' brains are structured differently in a way that increases their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centres of the brain."
However, the almost unanimously greatest fighter per weight class are almost all orthodox fighters. Of course we have to take into consideration that southpaws have been repressed in the history of the sport, but the stats are there nevertheless : southpaws rarely crack that no. 1 spot. Here, Boxingscene no. 1 fighters from featherweight to heavyweight.
Pep (fw), Arguello (jlw), Duran (lw), Cervantes (jww), Robinson (ww), Norris (jmw), Greb (mw), Calzaghe (smw), Charles (lhw), Holyfield (cw), Ali (hw).
As you can see, there is only one southpaw (and he isn't that great either). We have to go down the lists to find high rated southpaws most of the time.
If we take a look at the greatest soutpaws ever to try to note constant qualities, maybe we could dig something up that puts them in a class apart.
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (orthodox fighters)
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (southpaws)
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
Being more creative, does it mean that the southpaw will be more inclined to experiment unorthodox moves/tactics, and implement those in his style ?
Discuss. I'll be glad to hear any bit of knowledge you may have about southpaws.
Side note : I thought it was more relevant to post this in the history section than in NSB with all those Pacquiao-Mayweather freaks.
Objectively speaking (before taking into consideration scientific studies about left and right handed people), a southpaw should not naturally have an advantage over an orthodox fighter (if you leave the experience factor aside also) as they're the mirror image of one another. We always hear that a jab is nullified by a southpaw, but what about the southpaw's jab being nullified by his right handed opponent (mirror image) ?
Both fighters battle to establish their front foot outside of the front foot of the opponent just as they battle to establish their jab over the mirror's jab. Again, nothing there to create a natural advantage, just a tricky situation for both the lefty and the righty.
(Sorry for the lame picture, I wanted a real mirror image for this one.)
So how can we make a case that southpaws are fundamentally different, let alone superior fighters ? And what about fighters who purposely adopt a southpaw style when they're naturally right handed ? These guys are obviously looking for advantages, for that complicating mirror image, for that distance.
We hear a lot of stuff about southpaws. Stuff that tends to distinguish them. Some say they like to get off first, that they're slicker, they use more angles, etc.When I watch matches involving a southpaw and a right hander, I do notice some patterns though. A lot of southpaws like to let their opponent commit himself, come inside, and make them pay for cutting the natural distance (mirror image), they just slip and dodge on their left side so that they can fire a left uppercutt to the liver or rib section. Maybe it is safe to say that a southpaw is a distance and space wizard.
If southpaws are indeed different fighters, could it have something to do with the fact that they naturally rely more on the right side of their brain ?
"We'll keep this light and uncomplicated. Our brain, like the rest of our anatomy, is made up of two halves, a left brain a right brain. There's a big fold that goes from front to back in our brain, essentially dividing it into two distinct and separate parts. Well, almost separate. They are connected to each other by a thick cable of nerves at the base of each brain. This sole link between the two giant processors is called the corpus collosum. Think of it as an Ethernet cable or network connection between two incredibly fast and immensely powerful computer processors, each running different programs from the same input.
The left side of our body is "wired" to the right side of our brain, and vice versa. For whatever reason nature did this cross-over, it applies even to our eyes, which process a majority of their sensory data on opposite sides of the brain."
"In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus of University College London argues that the proportion of left-handers is increasing and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers' brains are structured differently in a way that increases their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centres of the brain."
However, the almost unanimously greatest fighter per weight class are almost all orthodox fighters. Of course we have to take into consideration that southpaws have been repressed in the history of the sport, but the stats are there nevertheless : southpaws rarely crack that no. 1 spot. Here, Boxingscene no. 1 fighters from featherweight to heavyweight.
Pep (fw), Arguello (jlw), Duran (lw), Cervantes (jww), Robinson (ww), Norris (jmw), Greb (mw), Calzaghe (smw), Charles (lhw), Holyfield (cw), Ali (hw).
As you can see, there is only one southpaw (and he isn't that great either). We have to go down the lists to find high rated southpaws most of the time.
If we take a look at the greatest soutpaws ever to try to note constant qualities, maybe we could dig something up that puts them in a class apart.
LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (orthodox fighters)
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe
RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS (southpaws)
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
Being more creative, does it mean that the southpaw will be more inclined to experiment unorthodox moves/tactics, and implement those in his style ?
Discuss. I'll be glad to hear any bit of knowledge you may have about southpaws.
Side note : I thought it was more relevant to post this in the history section than in NSB with all those Pacquiao-Mayweather freaks.
)
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