The petrosyan anaylisis thread, and the interesting videos and discussion of thai southpaws had me thinking.
It seems to me in boxing many of the southpaws I can think off of the top of my head. Are alot less traditionally "technical" but are successfull with unorthodox skills and abilities.
Wheres Kickboxers and muay thai fighters most of the best southpaws seem to me to be the most technical intelligent fighters around.
For example in boxing you have pacquiao, great boxer but he clearly ALWAYS has gotten himself off balance and lacked some defensive skills but his "unorthodox skill" of extreme speed made his style work for him.
Sergio Martinez is similar imo, really poor balance often chin in the air , but athleticism and good instinicts help to make up for it.
Then you have Joe Calzaghle very unorthodox slappy punches and occasional bad balance. But his high volume, heart and cardio helped him win.
Nazeem Hamed....Nuff said
These guys are clearly great fighters and do have skill, but there skills are more subtle often and are not immediately obviouse as being highly technical.
Now pernell whitaker seems to be a outliar clearly very very technical and aesthetically pleaseing. But even he leaned very far from punches and had very unorthodox slipping and had some weird footwork sometimes (imo led to roger mayweather knockdown).
Now in kickboxing you have guys like Girogio The doctor or Yodensenklai The compter and the stance swittcher samart payakaroon The boxing calculator then you have Sam A
The reason I bolded the nicknames is because they illustrate these guys style, very precise and immediately noticably technical and alot more textbook appearing and aestheticly pleaseing.
Do you agree or disagree? And why?
Edit: Just want to add I am talking top champs, theres tons of sloppy mid level southpaws who can confuse people. Also another observation a huge factor seems to be balance, all the boxers even whitaker, would get off there center of gravity, the kickboxers not so much.
It seems to me in boxing many of the southpaws I can think off of the top of my head. Are alot less traditionally "technical" but are successfull with unorthodox skills and abilities.
Wheres Kickboxers and muay thai fighters most of the best southpaws seem to me to be the most technical intelligent fighters around.
For example in boxing you have pacquiao, great boxer but he clearly ALWAYS has gotten himself off balance and lacked some defensive skills but his "unorthodox skill" of extreme speed made his style work for him.
Sergio Martinez is similar imo, really poor balance often chin in the air , but athleticism and good instinicts help to make up for it.
Then you have Joe Calzaghle very unorthodox slappy punches and occasional bad balance. But his high volume, heart and cardio helped him win.
Nazeem Hamed....Nuff said
These guys are clearly great fighters and do have skill, but there skills are more subtle often and are not immediately obviouse as being highly technical.
Now pernell whitaker seems to be a outliar clearly very very technical and aesthetically pleaseing. But even he leaned very far from punches and had very unorthodox slipping and had some weird footwork sometimes (imo led to roger mayweather knockdown).
Now in kickboxing you have guys like Girogio The doctor or Yodensenklai The compter and the stance swittcher samart payakaroon The boxing calculator then you have Sam A
The reason I bolded the nicknames is because they illustrate these guys style, very precise and immediately noticably technical and alot more textbook appearing and aestheticly pleaseing.
Do you agree or disagree? And why?
Edit: Just want to add I am talking top champs, theres tons of sloppy mid level southpaws who can confuse people. Also another observation a huge factor seems to be balance, all the boxers even whitaker, would get off there center of gravity, the kickboxers not so much.
