Orthodox VS Southpaw Stance

Strong Hand in Front or Back?

To have an orthodox stance means to stand with your left foot in the front and right foot in the back. To have a southpaw stance means to stand with your right foot in the front and left foot in the back. In general, you would always have your strongest hand in the back. The reason is because the back hand

has more room and distance to throw a harder punch whereas the front hand is for throw fast jabs to setup your bigger punches. From a technical standpoint, having your weak hand in front would make it more likely for it to connect with punches than to have the weak hand all the way in the back.

Professional Boxers with Strong Hand in Front

There are some professional boxers that stand with their strong arm in front. These are boxers that have had their stances converted for some reason. Usually, it is because their trainer is unable to train from the opposite stance and the fighters themselves don’t really know which hand is stronger. Some recent examples are Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Victor Ortiz and current challenger Timothy Bradley. These are professional boxers who have developed their weak hand to be just as deadly as their strong hand, therefore they can have their less dominant hand in the back and still be very effective. A great advantage to having your strong hand in front is that you can throw very powerful left hooks (or right hooks if you’re southpaw). Having a powerful left hook is such a huge advantage because it is a power punch in the front hand so it’s more likely to connect and it’s also blinding side punch so it’s more likely to turn your opponent’s head and knock him out.

Our Fight Card:
Pacquaio: Southpaw
Bradley: Orthodox