fighting a southpaw

[Pete]

hey guys,

so i'm back training and had my first sparring session yesterday against a southpaw, having never fought one before its safe to say i have a mild concusion right about now i was getting hit from all kinds of angles i never new existed...

i had a quick look online and could only find 1 article that would load behind the 'great' firewall and it was talking about boxing, which was pretty useful but leaves me wondering about what kicks to look out for and which ones are effective vs an unorthadox stance

any tips appreciated!

[Neeros]

There are plenty of kung fu patterns that are used from either or both sides. Make sure all your main defense patterns for upper, middle, lower, and side cover both right and left modes of attack.

[Pete]

thanks for the reply not quite what i was after though...i guess not many people have experience on the subject

[GoldenBrain]

I work on left/right equally and I like to straight line blitz from the outside off of 45 degree angles. I switch my stances based on my opponent. For southpaws I go orthodox and visa-versa. When fighting a southpaw using orthodox just step to your left and circle clockwise so that your lead foot is always to the outside of their lead foot. The fighter with the outside lead foot will have the advantage of reach with both hands while the other will have no reach advantage with either hand.

A good boxer will counter this by circling towards you and they usually throw a reaching left. You can easily slip this left cross as long as your foot is to the outside and your head is to their right or rather behind their right shoulder. To counter their right hook from this position just turn your head to the right a little and they'll usually miss due to their reach disadvantage. I usually follow the head turn right hook miss with my own straight right.

That's the simple version for straight up boxing, but it's not so cut and dry when you add grappling and kicks.

[Pete]

yeah its definitley not as simple with kicks involved but i'm going to try keep my front foot on the outside next time and circle clockwise i also read about leading with your right so ill see how that goes too... hopefully he'll be too busy with my new tactics to kick me in the face

[Fa Xing]

Being in JKD, I mostly fight from a right lead (AKA southpaw) position. If I was going to say the one thing that might open me up is if the orthodox fighter throws a jab while side-stepping to their left as, then follow up with a cross, right on heels of that cross you can throw a rear round kick to the inside of their right leg, or a thrust kick to their lower abdomen/pelvis region (depends on how they react), then you could if they remain off balance, follow up with cross and left hook.

The most important thing you want a southpaw to do is step to their left, which means you have to cut them off from stepping right, this will put them in better line for your power hits.

[Kellen Bassette]

I like to sweep the lead leg when an opponent is in an opposite stance. If you get to the outside of his lead when he weights it, you got a good opportunity.
Of course this works both ways.

[bawang]

hey guys,

sparring

concusion

i hope he wasnt trying to be a big tough guy giving you a concussion in sparring, that would mean he disresprected you.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Here are 2 ways to learn how to deal with a southpaw:

1- Fight southpaws: Instead of succumbing to the difference, take your fight to him (I suspect that you did not do this). Initiate. Dominate. Learn.

2- Fight as a southpaw. Notice the perceptual and technical advantages. Notice the weak points. Learn.

And you do not have to go heavy to do this.


mickey

[YouKnowWho]

We should look at this issue from both the "striker" point of view and also from the "grappler" point of view. If you are a

- "striker", you may put your strong side back.
- "grappler", you may put your strong side forward.

What if you are both a "striker" and a "grappler"? Most people will put their strong side forward. The reason is simple, with strong side forward, you can still be a good striker. With weak side forward, you will be a bad grappler.

From the "grappler" point of view, when you have right leg forward and your opponent has left leg forward in "mirror stance (southpaw)", not only you can attack his

- 1st side (outside of his left leg),
- 2nd side (inside of his left leg),

you can also enter his "front door" and "back door" much easily than when you are in "uniform stance (both have right side forward)". For "mirror stance" and "uniform stance", you will use a complete different set of techniques.

[David Jamieson]

Train your tool kit both sides equal.
That's all your attacks, your defenses and your foot work.
Mirror your strengths.

If you are leading up to an actual fight, train with lefties and spar with them until it's go time.

[YouKnowWho]

Should we train both sides equally?

In the "striking art" it may be possible. Whether you want to use your

- right fist to meet your opponent's face, or whether you want to use your left fist to meet your opponent's face,
- right foot to meet your opponent's chest, or whether you want to use your left foot to meet your opponent's chest,

you can't careless one way or another (assume you have the same knocking down power on both sides).

In the "grappling art" it may be difficult. To make any throwing work, you have to coordinate your

- upper hand (leading arm),
- lower hand (back arm),
- attacking leg (leading leg),
- rooting leg (back leg).

To train on both sides, you will need to duplicate that "coordination effort" along with your "entering strategy". This will divide your training time in half. Instead of to be very good on one side, you may end with 1/2 good on both sides.

Since you have to use a complete different set of techniques in "mirror stance" and "uniform stance" any way, it's better to train different techniques on both sides. This way,

- you can develop twice as many techniques, and
- all your techniques are 100% good.

[Pete]

1- Fight southpaws: Instead of succumbing to the difference, take your fight to him (I suspect that you did not do this). Initiate. Dominate. Learn.

i started to do that at the very end as i was getting used to his movements but still wasn't the best lol ill definitely try fighting southpaw so i can see what its like

i hope he wasnt trying to be a big tough guy giving you a concussion in sparring, that would mean he disresprected you.

i hope he was...won't learn much if he takes it easy

you can also enter his "back door"

wow...that would suprise him at least

thanks for all the replies guys...too lazy to quote them all but taken it all in i realised not training for so long didn't help much either...8 months mayswell have been 8 years it feels like

[Lee Chiang Po]

hey guys,

so i'm back training and had my first sparring session yesterday against a southpaw, having never fought one before its safe to say i have a mild concusion right about now i was getting hit from all kinds of angles i never new existed...

i had a quick look online and could only find 1 article that would load behind the 'great' firewall and it was talking about boxing, which was pretty useful but leaves me wondering about what kicks to look out for and which ones are effective vs an unorthadox stance

any tips appreciated!

When right handed men fight they usually lead with the left hand. They will usually shift or circle to their right in order to get behind the left jab and out of range of the powerful right. They are constantly trying to compensate and realign themselves. When fighting a left handed person you tend to move directly into his jab and leave yourself open to his right. Practice switching your lead. Practice, practice, practice, or it still won't help you much.

[SIFU RON]

When right handed men fight they usually lead with the left hand. They will usually shift or circle to their right in order to get behind the left jab and out of range of the powerful right. They are constantly trying to compensate and realign themselves. When fighting a left handed person you tend to move directly into his jab and leave yourself open to his right. Practice switching your lead. Practice, practice, practice, or it still won't help you much.

I am left handed , lefties grow up in a right handed world. We are naturally left handed and adapt from birth to being right handed. I never exposed myself as a southpaw ( re fighting ) as far back as I can remember, having grown up in Los Angeles in the mid 40's to 60's gave me lots of experience in street fighting. We lefties develop a strong right , and are left is stronger. One never knows.

I have always done my best to teach people to use both hands when it comes to Kung Fu training. The Butterfly Swords help as does all the previous views expressed here have done.

Best to you.

Ron