Orthodox stance

Kurt Prenzel, boxer of the 1920s, displaying orthodox stance with left hand and left foot to the fore.

An orthodox stance is a way of positioning both the feet and hands in combat sports such as boxing, karate, kickboxing and mixed martial arts. A traditional orthodox stance is one in which the boxer places his left foot farther in front of the right foot, thus having his weaker side closer to the opponent. As it favors the stronger, dominant side—often the right side, see laterality—the orthodox stance is the most common stance in boxing. It is mostly used by right-handed boxers. Many boxing champions—such as Jack Johnson, Anthony Joshua, Marco Antonio Barrera, Rocky Marciano, Ingmar Johansson, Roberto Durán, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Muhammad Ali, Amir Khan, Peter Buckley, Johnny Tapia, Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko, Joe Frazier, Carl Frampton, Gennady Golovkin, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Tyson Fury—fought in an orthodox stance.

Alternative stances

The corresponding designation for a left-handed boxer is southpaw and is generally a mirror image of the orthodox stance. A southpaw boxer guards and jabs with his right hand. Some famous boxers who use southpaw are Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Sultan Ibragimov, Naseem Hamed, Joe Calzaghe, Manny Pacquiao and Lucian Bute. Francisco Palacios and Andre Ward normally fight as orthodox, but occasionally switch to a southpaw stance to confuse their opponents. Hagler was the opposite, normally fighting southpaw but able to switch to orthodox. Some fighters who are naturally left-handed fight in the orthodox stance with the advantage of a fast, hard jab and left hook, including Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Angel Cotto, Gerry Cooney and Marco Antonio Barrera. Though they are far from common, many gym trainers who lack experience in training left-handed boxers convert southpaws to a right-handed stance.

Further reading

• Deciding between orthodox or southpaw, expertboxing.com, retrieved 2012-12-19
• Southpaws, coxcorner.com, retrieved 2012-12-19
• Boxing basics, learnhowtobox.com, retrieved 2013-01-11
• Stands and on guard, myboxingcoach.com, retrieved 2012-12-20
• What is southpaw in boxing, innovateus.net, retrieved 2012-12-20

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