I have been promising another installment of the southpaw guide for quite some time but my other commitments have prevented me from devoting the time necessary. I came home late last night and was suddenly hit by the energy to do this, so I have pushed this piece out in an hour or two. Switch hitting is an enormous passion of mine, and a great part of any training day is spent practicing my switches and shifts.
This is a basic level overview of the ideas at play in switch hitting, and if there is as good a response to this piece as there has been to the others I would love to write a full southpaw guide ebook. If that would interest you please let me know, because there are so many details that stills from fights can't explain, and a great many stance switching methods that I haven't even touched on such as Bas Rutten's teeps to the ropes or Karate's "cheat punch". I don't think there's a man alive who couldn't up his game with a few switch hitting techniques.
Cheers,
Jack
Switch hitting is an enormously useful tactic to employ and one that is grossly under-estimated by traditional boxing and kickboxing coaches. When watching high level boxing matches one will notice that both fighters get hit a lot and come out bruised. A boxer will have 20 - 50 fights in his career and finish it with slurred speech and slowed movement, whereas a switch hitter such as Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva or Prince Naseem Hamed gets hit relatively little and leaves the sport with most of their wits in tact.
Switch hitting is largely frowned upon in boxing circles because it is done exceptionally poorly by most of those who attempt it. Many fighters switch stance where they stand, with an energy expending hop, and get nailed with a powerful straight as they change stances. Switching stances by hopping where you stand leaves an instant where neither foot is planted, and a moment either side of this where you are focused on the stance change more than your defense. Switching stance should be effortless and serve to confuse everyone but the man switching stances.
There are several ways to change stance intelligently. One can change stance while circling away from the opponent's power hand, thereby limiting their offence to the one, weaker hand. Or one can change stance in the midst of a technique or combination. An excellent example of how shifting stance during an attack will serve to bring the strike from a confusing angle can be seen in the first meeting between the Hercules of K-1, Jerome Le Banner, and Ray Sefo. Sefo, fighting against the southpaw Le Banner, performed a switch step and struck a hook with his right hand - changing it from his rear hand to his lead hand. This drastically shortened the distance it had to cover and changed it's angle of entry. Southpaws do not expect to have to deal with a lead hook from another southpaw stance, preferring instead the game of outfighting based on hand fighting, footwork and rear hand leads.
This right hook, known as the Balmoral Special (Balmoral being Sefo's hometown in New Zealand) is a signature of Sefo's style, and variations of stance switching hooks, stepping forward or backward, have been utilized by many of the fighters Sefo has trained such as Jay Heiron and Vitor Belfort. It is certainly an excellent way to press home the significance of stance switching. It is, however, simply a trick and does not prepare you for the change of game that comes from a stance switch.
Notice how Sefo, an orthodox fighter against the southpaw Le Banner, draws his left leg back, steps forward with his right leg into a southpaw stance and lands a right hook. Because the right hand becomes his lead hand as he changes stance, his hips are already moving to an angle that makes the right hook a short, lead hook, rather than a long, looping blow as it would be if he stayed orthodox. This type of stance switching punch is known as a "Shift", and only a few men have made a specialty of them. Benny Leonard used to utilize a ducking or "drop shift" from orthodox to southpaw, and the great middleweight Robert Fitzsimmons won the heavyweight title of the world from Gentleman Jim Corbett with his famous "Fitzsimmons Shift", a switching left hook to the body which felled Corbett in a single blow.
Some truly amazing fighters have made extensive use of stance switching, and it hasn't simply been a gimmick, it has served as a confusing offense AND as a deterrent of the opponent's offense as he has to re-assess the dynamic of the bout due to the change in distance and lead side. Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Alistair Overeem, Takanori Gomi, Jersey Joe Walcott, Marvin Hagler and Jersey Joe Walcott are all great examples of fighters who spent a great deal of time switching from stance to stance until they found a power punch (or kick) as their opponent played catch up.
To change stance correctly from an orthodox stance against an orthodox opponent, it is best to side step to their lead side. Taking a 45 degree step forward and to the right with the right foot, then pivoting around it, bringing the left foot in behind it and establishing a southpaw stance. If changing from a southpaw stance to an orthodox stance these directions are, of course, reversed. Against an opponent in the opposite stance to oneself, it is still best to circle to their weaker, leading side. The important point is that rather than shift on spot, you find a way to bring your feet level, then pivot or step in behind the one that you wish to lead with.
Here Anderson Silva is facing fellow southpaw Yushin Okami. Anderson spent a great deal of this match switching stance, and most of the time was circling away from Okami's left hand. While Okami is not a power puncher with his left hand, by circling to Okami's lead side Anderson gave Okami one hand to attack with rather than both. In the top left frame Anderson (right) is orthodox while Okami is southpaw. Anderson draws back his left foot squaring up his stance (top right still), then side steps to the left (bottom left still). After a change of camera angle Anderson draws his right foot up in a southpaw stance (bottom right still).
The most important part of this sequence is that Anderson changes stance while moving. Lateral movement is enormously important to changing stances effectively. It is vital to circle and limit the opponent's attacks so that you can switch stances safely. Furthermore, changing stances facilitates lateral movement. As one squares up it is easier to side skip around the opponent, stepping back into a stance as one wishes to engage. It is very easy to circle with the feet level (as in the top right and bottom left frames) and leap straight back in with a left or right straight from either stance. Willie Pep was a master at this, circling away and then jumping back in with a straight from either stance as his opponent caught up.
Jersey Joe Walcott had a different approach to stance shifting. He circled in the direction of the opponent's power hand, but he did so while moving forty five degrees backwards. Notice here, Walcott squares up his stance while circling (top left and top right stills), then steps across himself while firing a right lead to bewilder his opponent, then steps through with his left to establish a southpaw stance. The entire time he is traveling to his left, but he is moving back rather than into the opponent's power.To make this more impressive, his visibly flustered opponent is Joe Louis, the greatest heavyweight who ever fought, and a man who made a career out of knocking men unconscious with a cross counter as they circled into his powerful right hand! It was stance shifts like these, combined with rockback counter right hands and left hooks that allowed Joe Walcott, an average physical specimen, to become the oldest man to win the heavyweight title of the world.
As we have discussed, the open guard (left vs right stance) is a completely different game to closed guard (left vs left or right vs right stance). It relies on hand trapping and rear hand leads, while the jab is virtually useless except when tailored for specific instances. Switching to and fro between stances will confuse even decent boxers as to what they should and shouldn't be throwing. It is in this confusion that they often fail to commit to attacks fully, which allows a switch hitter to throw power punches or counters freely. It is even hard to anticipate the angle an opponent's attack will take to attack while his feet are squared, as demonstrated by Willie Pep here.
Notice how Pep (black trunks) is in a closed guard position with his opponent, both leading with their left foot. Pep steps his lead foot back and outward, level to his rear foot (a typical move of Pep, top right still), as his opponent pivots to face him (bottom left still) Pep steps in with his right foot leading and uncorks a body shot that the other fighter can only curl up and take (bottom right still). Whether it was the body shot or the straight left to the face, circling left and coming in with the right foot forward was a typical feature of Pep's style and was responsible for a disproportionately high amount of his offense. Sadly this skill is overlooked by conservative coaches who write off switch hitting as a gimmick. Notice in this highlight how many times Pep utilizes the same squaring of his feet, circling, then diving into a southpaw stance.
There is a great deal left to be said about fighting from open guard, and on switch hitting techniques and footwork. Much of this will be covered extensively in my upcoming ebooks should I receive the same support for this technical article that I have for others. At any rate, it is an excellent idea to invest the time studying tape of the best switch hitters - a great many of whom were / are very inactive fighters, but stellar knockout artists. I will conclude by re-affirming what I said at the opening - bring me any good one stance fighter and with just a few safe, scientific stance switching techniques and the previously established southpaw principles, he could up his offensive options and reduce the number of times he gets hit significantly. There is no martial artist alive who cannot benefit from learning just a few of these skills.
If you wish to support Jack Slack and learn more about the tactics of 20 of the world's leading strikers, with over 70 techniques demonstrated in full instructional photography, pick up the ebook Advanced Striking: Tactics of Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA Masters.
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