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Southpaw stance

Hand-to-hand combat terminology

Hand-to-hand combat terminology

In boxing and some other sports, a southpaw stance is a stance in which the boxer has the right hand and the right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook. It is the normal stance for a left-handed boxer. The corresponding boxing designation for a right-handed boxer is the orthodox stance, which is generally a mirror-image of the southpaw stance. In American English, "southpaw" generally refers to a person who is left-handed. While many advantages have been theorized for left-handedness in sports, many studies have found no impact at the professional level.

Previous uses of the term southpaw

The "American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language" cites the conventional wisdom that the word "southpaw" originated "from the practice in baseball of arranging the diamond with the batter facing east to avoid the afternoon sun." Though many claim that the term originated due to the orientation of baseball playing fields in order to keep the sun out of the players' eyes and the resulting alignment of a left-handed pitcher's throwing arm causing the pitcher to have his left hand on the south side of his body, the term had been used decades prior to that to indicate "not-usual".

References

References

  1. Sorokowski, Piotr, Agnieszka Sabiniewicz, and Sławomir Wacewicz. "The influence of the boxing stance on performance in professional boxers." AnthropologicAl review 77.3 (2014): 347-353.
  2. SOPIARZ, JOSH. "Fighters and Fathers: Managing Masculinity in Contemporary Boxing Cinema." THE POPULAR CULTURE STUDIES JOURNAL (2019): 257.
  3. Baker, Joseph, and Jörg Schorer. "The Southpaw advantage?-lateral preference in mixed martial arts." PloS one 8.11 (2013): e79793.
  4. (Aug 12, 2015). "Why are left-handers called "southpaws"?". History.com.
  5. "I read somewhere that all major league baseball stadiums must point in the same direction (3rd base line north). Is this true?". Info Please.
  6. "Southpaw". Free Dictionary.
  7. Wilton, Dave. (July 5, 2012). "Southpaw". Word Origins.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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