Boxing Positions or Stances

Boxing is not all about using the best equipment. It is a sport which you can’t practice perfectly unless you know all about it. There are many things other than boxing equipment or gear which you must know about if you want to become a pro. Boxing includes not only gear, but also strategies, training, styles and stances. There are two main boxing stances. One is orthodox and the other is southpaw. The first thing that you need to decide is what stance you want to fight in. And for that purpose, you must know all about these two stances.

Orthodox Stance

This stance is normally adopted by right-handed fighters. It is a traditional stance used in combat sports like boxing, karate, mixed martial arts and kickboxing. It is a stance in which the fighter places his left foot and left hand in front of his right foot and right hand. This stance includes left handed jabs and

Southpaw Stance

It is the mirror image of orthodox stance. It is mostly used by left-handed fighters. In this stance, the fighters place their right, instead of left, foot and hand forward and keep the left foot and hand behind. In both of these stances, the weaker part of body is kept forward and the stronger one is kept behind for maximum use of power and energy.

Orthodox vs. Southpaw

Orthodox stance is recommended for right-handed fighters whereas Southpaw stance is recommended for left-handed fighters. It can’t be said that one of the stances is better than the other. If you have command over both of them, you will be able to change your position during a fight which can easily turn the tables of a fight. If you are badly losing a fight, all you need to do is believe in yourself, don’t fade away, change your stance, confuse your opponent, fight like you mean it, knock your opponent down and win the fight.

Renowned Boxers

Here are a few famous orthodox and southpaw boxers. You can watch how they fight in the ring to learn more about the two stances.

Orthodox

Floyd Mayweather Jr. - He was an expert American boxer. He possesses a track record of 49-0 with 26 knockouts.

Gennady Golovkin - He is a renowned boxer from Kazakhstan. He holds a track record of 34-0 with 31 knockouts.

Danny Green - He is a famous Australian boxer. He has fought in 39 bouts and won 34 of them. He has knocked out his opponents 28 times.

Southpaw

Manny Pacquiao - He is a world-class boxer from Philippines. He has a track record of 57-6-2 with 38 knockouts.

Victor Ortiz - He is a popular American boxer. He has taken part in 37 fights till now. He has won 30 and lost only 5 of them. 2 of his fights ended as a draw. He has knocked out 23 of his opponents.

Vic Darchinyan - This famous Australian boxer possesses a track record of 41-8-1 with 30 knockouts.

These are the two stances adopted in boxing. If you are a right-handed boxer, you should adopt orthodox position. Once you get total command over it, you should also learn to fight in the southpaw stance. If you are a left-handed boxer, you should adopt the reverse method. First get command over the southpaw and then learn the orthodox stance.