Dealing with southpaws?

[GoatArtemLobov]

I'm a tall lanky orthodox fighter who likes to fight from the outside. 95% of my punches are forehand punches. Therefore, I have a very very educated left hand.
My right hand, on the other hand, isn't quite as good. Moreover, I hate to fight close to my opponents, since I hate taking shots, that's why I don't use it that much.
So against orthodox fighters, it's simple, I always circle to the outside, popping them with the jab, long left hooks, and occasionally rear power straights and uppercuts when they try to close the distance. Foot battle is very important, if I don't win that battle, all my strategy falls apart.
Against southpaws, I find it very very hard to win the foot battle. 1st reason for that is that I'm not used circling to that side, while southpaw opponents are used to that since they always fight orthodox fighters. 2nd reason is that when an orthodox guy fights a southpaw, the importance of the lead hand (my good forehand) decreases dramatically while the importance of the rear hand (my weaker rear hand) increases.
The thing that I absolutely need to do is to prevent the southpaw from beating me in the foot battle. The things I do to avoid that is to cut his way off with lead round kicks and left hooks.
But it's not always enough, and I always end up getting beat in the foot battle, and every time I have to shell up or frame, and get out, resetting everything.
So my question is :
How tall and lanky sherbros who hate to get hit deal with southpaw fighters they can't force to a jab battle on the outside?

 

[aerius]

Go southpaw yourself. This reduces everything to a previously solved problem.

 

[RemyR]

When you talking about the foot battle I assume you meant keeping your left leg outside of his right? That’s kind of the key here. Don’t be afraid to circle out if he’s getting the better angle. Go back and out. When I did a style of karate called koei kan we had a way of moving to get this. Specifically “A”and “D” here. It’s a bit backwards because it assumes you’re in a southpaw stance to begin with so just reverse it. The “D” version here will land you in a southpaw stance but you can switch back as you throw. Don’t be afraid to jab to cover your movement.

Check hooks every now and then are nice as you’re moving. Just do not get predictable or you will eat straight left before you can connect.

One big weakness of the stance is it opens up their body more. The liver is right there. I find mixing body/head in hand combinations works very well to keep them on the defensive if you land some solid body shots they WILL lower their hands. Consequently if you land several jabs that should open the body. Keep it mixed.

maybe someone else can give advice when it comes to a leg kick battle with a southpaw. One thing that works for me is feint and chamber a left leg kick, this brings up their right to block, and then blast them with your right leg on the inside as they lower theirs back down.

 

[GoatArtemLobov]

Go southpaw yourself. This reduces everything to a previously solved problem.

Offense is good as a southpaw but defense is weak, the only time I went southpaw, I got my nose busted up...

 

[GoatArtemLobov]

When you talking about the foot battle I assume you meant keeping your left leg outside of his right?

That's indeed what I'm referring too.

Don’t be afraid to circle out if he’s getting the better angle.

That's what I'm already doing, but it's always frustrating when you have to reset every 10 seconds.

I’ll edit this later with a picture of what I’m talking about we had a specific movement for this way back when I did koei kan.

That's very nice, appreciate it.

One big weakness of the stance is is opens up their body more. The liver is right there. I find mixing body/head in hand combinations works very well to keep them on the defensive if you land some solid body shots they WILL lower their hands. Consequently if you land several jabs that should open the body. Keep it mixed.

That's a very good strategy, all the more so as I have a solid lead hand and an ok left roundhouse, and southpaws tend to have weaker lead hands (maybe because southpaw boxing is way more focused around the rear hand) so the counter risk isn't too big. Definitely gonna try to mix it up more.

 

[Calmathetic9]

I used to have same problems as you mentioned. I decided to learn southpaw… against all my coaches advice. It took a while but now it pays when I can switch and confuses the opponent.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

It goes this order:

1) Control lead hand fight
2) Lead Foot Position control, if you step outside, throw the left straight, if they step outside, step in and throw a lead hook
3) Rear Body Kick

 

[biscuitsbrah]

I don’t worry about the outside foot battle too much. Especially if you are on the back foot. Sometimes it’s better to circle to the open side.

 

[MilesP4P]

I don’t worry about the outside foot battle too much. Especially if you are on the back foot. Sometimes it’s better to circle to the open side.

Agreed, in boxing we are watching Tank Davis make a career out of circling to his opponent open side, the minute they over commit with a right hand, he steps back at an angle and lands a crazy counter punch.

 

[zapataxiv]

I don’t worry about the outside foot battle too much. Especially if you are on the back foot. Sometimes it’s better to circle to the open side.

i agree
the foot battle is a beginner level method for dealing with southies
the problem is when you are against guys with some seasoning, if the know you are going to do the foot battle and move in that direction they can walk you into shots because they know where you will be. going the other way is good and it keeps the tables even beacuse then they are also wary of either direction.

 

[Frode Falch]

I love them. Because i finaly get to unleash my right samkor bodykick of doom.

 

[rmongler]

I'm a tall lanky orthodox fighter who likes to fight from the outside. 95% of my punches are forehand punches. Therefore, I have a very very educated left hand.
My right hand, on the other hand, isn't quite as good. Moreover, I hate to fight close to my opponents, since I hate taking shots, that's why I don't use it that much.
So against orthodox fighters, it's simple, I always circle to the outside, popping them with the jab, long left hooks, and occasionally rear power straights and uppercuts when they try to close the distance. Foot battle is very important, if I don't win that battle, all my strategy falls apart.
Against southpaws, I find it very very hard to win the foot battle. 1st reason for that is that I'm not used circling to that side, while southpaw opponents are used to that since they always fight orthodox fighters. 2nd reason is that when an orthodox guy fights a southpaw, the importance of the lead hand (my good forehand) decreases dramatically while the importance of the rear hand (my weaker rear hand) increases.
The thing that I absolutely need to do is to prevent the southpaw from beating me in the foot battle. The things I do to avoid that is to cut his way off with lead round kicks and left hooks.
But it's not always enough, and I always end up getting beat in the foot battle, and every time I have to shell up or frame, and get out, resetting everything.
So my question is :
How tall and lanky sherbros who hate to get hit deal with southpaw fighters they can't force to a jab battle on the outside?

If you want to know how a man standing orthodox fights a man standing southpaw, look at how a man standing southpaw fights a man standing orthodox.

Hits to the open side are always important. Your right kick becomes a lot more powerful, your right hand becomes a lot more powerful.

On the question of lead side dominance, Andre Ward was a left handed fighter who boxed orthodox, and when he faced southpaws, one of his best weapons was an overhand left with his lead hand, like he was trying to throw a ball.

Most strikes are usually jammed on the closed side, so guys who led with their rights often didn't expect punches to come from that angle, and he would land some serious bangers with it.

Beyond that, the game of stance in neutral is also largely transformed when you start jockeying on the inside; knowing how to attack through the clinch, and chaining your strikes and offensive slips into offensive clinch sequences, can become even more valuable. (Assuming this is MT, MMA, or Boxing; i've observed refs in Kickboxing can be real anal-retentive about fighters even so much as bumping up against each other.)

 

[mboxer001]

Someone said go southpaw i say if you learn it you'll have a better chance against it too

 

[Sanserif]

Go southpaw yourself. This reduces everything to a previously solved problem.

That's exactly what I did the last time I sparred with a southpaw which seemed to really mess with my opponent's style. I am fairly comfortable with going southpaw as that is the default position in some other arts so it was not a bid adjustment for me.

 

[4daLuLZ]

Offense is good as a southpaw but defense is weak, the only time I went southpaw, I got my nose busted up...

Not to say anything of the "just turn southpaw too, bro" advice you’re responding to but the stance of the southpaw is in itself a defensive posture.
It’s not a coincidence that a lot of the great defensive masters are lefties.

That said, you got popped because your base reactions are from the POV of an orthodox fighter.
Since you were a baby, you’ve been conditioned to flinch, to react based on a certain set ocular path and body travel line.