Southpaw stance

Southpaw is a boxing term that designates the stance where the boxer has his right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook. Southpaw is the normal stance for a left-handed boxer. The corresponding designation for a right-handed boxer is orthodox, and is generally a mirror-image of the southpaw stance.

Strategy

Left-handed boxers are usually taught to fight in a southpaw stance, but right-handed fighters also fight in the southpaw stance. This may give the southpaw fighter a strategic advantage because of the tactical and cognitive difficulties of coping with a fighter who moves in a mirror-reverse of the norm. One reason some left-handed fighters are brought up fighting in the orthodox stance is because of a perception that boxing from an atypical stance (or attempting to learn to do so) would be a disadvantage to the fighter. Another reason some left-handed fighters are brought up fighting in the orthodox stance is due to the (real or perceived) limited number of trainers who specialize in training the southpaw stance.

Handedness

Handedness is a better (faster or more precise) performance or individual preference for use of a hand, known as the dominant hand. Handedness is not a discrete variable (right or left), but a continuous one that can be expressed at levels between strong left and strong right.

There are four types of handedness: left-handedness, right-handedness, mixed-handedness, and ambidexterity. Left-handedness is somewhat more common among men than among women.

Types

Boxing

Boxing is a martial art and combat sport in which two people throw punches at each other, usually with gloved hands. Historically, the goals have been to weaken and knock down the opponent.

Amateur boxing is both an Olympic and Commonwealth sport and is a common fixture in most international games—it also has its own World Championships. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of one- to three-minute intervals called rounds. The result is decided when an opponent is deemed incapable to continue by a referee, is disqualified for breaking a rule, resigns by throwing in a towel, or is pronounced the winner or loser based on the judges' scorecards at the end of the contest. In the event that both fighters gain equal scores from the judges, the fight is considered a draw (professional boxing). In Olympic boxing, due to the fact that a winner must be declared, in the case of a draw - the judges use technical criteria to chose the most deserving winner of the bout.

While people have fought in hand-to-hand combat since before the dawn of history, the origin of boxing as an organized sport may be its acceptance by the ancient Greeks as an Olympic game in BC 688. Boxing evolved from 16th- and 18th-century prizefights, largely in Great Britain, to the forerunner of modern boxing in the mid-19th century, again initially in Great Britain and later in the United States.