Southpaw Striking Guide Part 2: Unique Punches

Part 1 of this series which covers basic principles of fighting as or against a southpaw can be found at http://www.fightsgoneby.com/2012/01/southpaw-striking-guide-part-1-advanced.html


Once again, all of the techniques listed can be used either by a southpaw against an orthodox fighter OR vice versa, but will have little effect against a man in the same stance as you.

The southpaw vs orthodox or "open guard" position offers a completely different set of punches from the orthodox vs orthodox / southpaw vs southpaw or "closed guard" position and herein we'll take a look at some of the more exciting variations. One of the reasons for this variation in blows is that by having the right hand closer to the opponent and the left hand further away, his defenses must change from those he would use against an orthodox fighter to consider these or he can be picked apart through the holes.

Rear Hand Lead

The difficulty landing the southpaw jab means that on the flip side, one may land a powerful left straight through the same hole that would have existed or a weaker, shorter left hand jab by an orthodox fighter. The left straight is the staple of southpaw offense vs an orthodox fighter (and of course vice versa), and all advice to lead with a jab in such situations should be ignored, the rear straight is the best opening for such situations. A step outside the opponent's lead foot will make the rear hand straight sail between his hands, and if he gets a hand to it as he would a jab it will have too much momentum from the distance traveled and some or all of the force will get through. Here is a highlight of the most accomplished southpaw in boxing history, Manny Pacquiao, using this southpaw left straight as an orthodox fighter would use a counter jab - note how his step outside in many cases enables him to move away immediately after or puts him in a position to follow up.

Corkscrew Lead Uppercut

A trademark of Prince Naseem Hamed, this punch is criminally underused by southpaws. The corkscrew uppercut is so difficult to predict that once Hamed had begun to bore of training he smashed through half a dozen more opponents basically only using this punch. Hamed precedes his punch with a lean over his front leg, so that he can use his quadriceps to literally leap into the straight uppercut maneuver. If the opponent is actively attempting to handfight by reaching towards your hand (as discussed in part 1) the corkscrew uppercut can sneak in directly under his arm, straight to his chin. Additionally this technique can be used to hop offline and place a fighter in position to throw his rear straight immediately afterward, as demonstrated here by Naz.

While Hamed did use this technique from an orthodox vs orthodox situation, he found nowhere near the amount of success as when he used it as a southpaw. This technique is extremely useful for fighters who have a strong southpaw right hook as that fact will cause an opponent to raise his arm up from it's correct position, enabling the corkscrew uppercut to travel almost through his armpit. Wicky Akiyo has also had success with this technique when his money punch, the right hook, is not finding it's home. It also made an appearance in many of Marvin Hagler's fights.

Looping Lead Straight

Another one from Naseem Hamed's playbook. The act of squaring up so that a powerful straight can be thrown with the lead hand has been touched on by fighters as diverse as Bas Rutten and Archie Moore. Though those fighters are orthodox fighters, this technique is even more useful for southpaws as it can travel over the opponent's extended lead arm. Essentially an arcing straight which comes in over the top, it is a power punch which just as with the corkscrew uppercut can be thrown with just a twist of the hips or with the whole bodyweight leaping into it. Right handed southpaws particularly like to square up and throw a powerful straight with their lead hand. In this video of the Contender Asia finale, notice how at 3:16 Yodsanklai Fairtex begins with a corkscrew lead uppercut, then following a semi caught kick, drops the hardy Aussie, John Wayne Parr with a looping lead straight in a scramble.


The Southpaw Jab

The southpaw jab is a difficult punch to land from a standard position squared up with the opponent. Most of the time it is landed on opponents whose defense is not up to the cut to begin with. To land a jab as a southpaw or against a southpaw it is necessary to step the lead foot to the inside of the opponent's front foot. By stepping into a very sideways on stance in this manner it is possible to land a powerful jab cleanly between the opponent's hands. This is a dangerous technique to use, however, in MMA as placing the lead foot inside of an opponent's front foot places a boxer in a position to be foot swept. Here Joe Calzaghe begins to land his jab on Roy Jones Jr. in rounds 3 and 4 (from 6:45), but often finds himself off balanced over Roy's leg, even when Roy isn't attempting to trip him. Calzaghe's jab lands when he steps inside of Jones' leg, but simply lands on Roy's glove when Joe maintains his regular footing and attempts a combination. Most southpaw jabbers against competent opponents tend to establish one or two strong jabs and then begin jabbing without the step inside an opponent's foot, in order to bait the opponent into firing back, then counter with a lead hook or rear straight, or to simply cause the opponent to cover up as Calzaghe does to Jones.

The Lean-Back Lead Hook
The lead hook is difficult to land from scratch in the southpaw position, but one effective way used to land it by Joe Calzaghe, Anderson Silva, Naseem Hamed and Giorgio Petrosyan is to establish a southpaw jab as a threat in the opponent's mind then begin throwing less committed jabs, pulling the head away from the opponent's returned jab, then landing the right hook over his outstretched arm. To illustrate this form of counter I refer you to StillWill's EXCELLENT highlight of the cunning southpaw master Giorgio Petrosyan. Watch as he throws a lean back right hook at 0:47, 1:02, 1:56 against a kick, 2:15 in slow mo and 2:20 in super slow motion, disfiguring the face of Sato. Petrosyan uses other techniques off of the lean back which can also be seen in the highlight such as the left cross counter and the straight left, but for many right handed southpaws, such as Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the short right hook can carry considerable power through a shorter, less predictable arc. This technique is also a favorite of Nick Diaz and Wicky Akiyo, two very disparate fighters in terms of style who find their own ways to pull it off.

Almost every basic punch is utilized through different angles and opportunities from the southpaw vs orthodox or "open guard" position. Punches which would have no hope of landing without a retaliation from an orthodox vs orthodox position such as the corkscrew uppercut, take on a much more effective role, and counters that aren't normally there such as the lean back right hook become extremely effective as the opponent has never had cause to train for them.

In the next installment of the Southpaw Striking Guide we will be covering footwork angles from the southpaw position with help from the genius of Giorgio Petrosyan and Manny Pacquiao. 


To learn more about striking from a southpaw stance or against a southpaw stance I recommend purchasing either Anderson Silva's Striking Combinations DVD, Lyoto Machida's Box Set or the excellentboxing coach Kenny Weldon's entire series or just the volume that pertains to southpaws.

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