{"id":4689,"date":"2010-09-20T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T04:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=4689"},"modified":"2010-09-22T13:36:43","modified_gmt":"2010-09-22T17:36:43","slug":"manny-pacquiao-the-rise-of-the-southpaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=4689","title":{"rendered":"Manny Pacquiao & the Rise of the Southpaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Gina L. Caliboso<\/strong><\/p>\n

I may be dating myself, but have any of you combat sports fans ever hear of the Huey Lewis and the News Song \u201cHip to be Square?\u201d And why the reference to an obscure 80s song? Ever since Nonito Donaire and his noble experiment at southpaw, I got to thinking \u2013 and yes, I have a very long thought process, I started to wonder about the idea of fighting southpaw or fighting orthodox. <\/p>\n

As MMA has shown, a fighter can attack in all four ranges, punching, kicking, close quarters with elbows and knees, and also on the ground. But in boxing, aptly named the sweet science, where punching range is the only range, I suddenly went through a list of my favorite fighters. There are a LOT of southpaws. Why the sudden rise of the southpaw? Is this a new trend? Is it a sort of back up to an arsenal a boxer can rely on just to confuse his opponent?<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve studied Jeet Kune Do, my brain did a switch every time my Sifu told us to do drills in a right lead. I suddenly became aware of the feeling of fighting in a right lead and it felt uncomfortable. But as I go through some of my favorite southpaw fighters, I thought I\u2019d also provide some input as to who would make a great fellow southpaw competitor, and given the current state of questionable matchmaking these days, I\u2019ll have fun with this one.<\/p>\n

At welterweight, and yes I have to start at this one, it\u2019s the most obvious one. My favorite fighter, Manny \u201cPacman\u201d Pacquiao, 51-3, 38 KO\u2019s is currently ranked #2. Up next, as we all know (and dread), Pacquiao goes up against orthodox fighter Antonio Margarito on November 13th. I\u2019m still wavering on this PPV. Times are hard for this barely working boxing reporter. Timothy Bradley had called out Pacquiao earlier this summer. Bradley isn\u2019t quite there yet. As for Mayweather, I don\u2019t really care to discuss it. It\u2019s a done non-deal.<\/p>\n

At light welterweight, Devon Alexander, 21-0, 13 KO\u2019s, is currently ranked #3 in the division. His next opponent? The fighter I just mentioned, Timothy \u201cDesert Storm\u201d Bradley, 26-0, 11 KO\u2019s set for January 2011. I like this fight and glad to know that Alexander is putting up his undefeated record and his WBC\/IBF Light Welterweight titles on the line. I love this. Bu let\u2019s not forget the return of Zab \u201cSuper\u201d Judah, 39-6, 27 KO\u2019s, to the boxing ring.<\/p>\n

Judah\u2019s boxing style had been compared as Pacquiao-like. Judah could make the division a southpaw dominated division and then move into the welterweights. Even at 32, he needs a good fight and a financially rewarding one. Judah is currently set to fight Michael Clark, 40-5, 18 KO\u2019s, in November.<\/p>\n

In the light middleweight division, Paul \u201cPunisher\u201d Williams, 39-1, 27 KO\u2019s, is currently ranked #1. Williams\u2019 last two fights have been questionable victories. It showed that the height advantaged southpaw has some vulnerability against a fighter that stands in the ring and outboxes him.<\/p>\n

As for the middleweights, Sergio Gabriel \u201cMaravilla\u201d Martinez, 45-2, 24 KO\u2019s is ranked #1 in the division. As for a challenger, it\u2019s a rematch really. Martinez is a boxer that pushed Williams to a 12 round MD. Their fight made me question judges\u2019 cards. I was happy to see that Martinez went on to win his next fight and the WBC\/WBO middleweight titles against Kelly \u201cGhost\u201d Pavlik, 36-2, 32 KO\u2019s, although the WBO title was later stripped. I\u2019d say it\u2019s a rematch in the making between southpaws Martinez and Williams.<\/p>\n

Shall I continue with the Super Middleweights? There\u2019s Lucian Bute, 26-0, 21 KO\u2019s currently ranked #1. In the Super Six alone, there\u2019s Andre \u201cThe Matrix\u201d Dirrell, 19-1, 13 KO\u2019s ranked #2. And also, there\u2019s Andre \u201cS.O.G.\u201d Ward, 22-0, 13 KO\u2019s, listed as orthodox, but can comfortably switch into southpaw if necessary.<\/p>\n

At light heavyweight, \u201cBad\u201d Chad Dawson, 29-1, 17 KO\u2019s is now ranked #3. Dawson lost against talented Canadian Jean Pascal, 26-1, 16 KO\u2019s for the light heavyweight title last month. Pascal may or may not fight veteran Bernard \u201cExecutioner\u201d Hopkins, 51-5, 32 KO\u2019s, sometime in December.<\/p>\n

Finally, I have to mention two of my favorite fighters in the lighter weight divisions. At super flyweight, Nonito \u201cFilipino Flash\u201d Donaire, 24-1, 16 KO\u2019s ranked #1. And at bantamweight, of course, Vic \u201cRaging Bull\u201d Darchinyan, 35-2, 27 KO\u2019s is currently ranked at #1. These fighters never fail to challenge and lift each other into a better fight. With Donaire experimenting at southpaw, these two must match up. It would be a very entertaining and exciting fight to watch.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that in Donaire\u2019s last fight, he did okay as a southpaw, but he won with his orthodox style. I\u2019d like to see how he\u2019d do against Darchinyan.<\/p>\n

So, to take a few words from Huey Lewis, I\u2019ll pose the question again, albeit modified, \u201cIs it hip to be a southpaw?\u201d The answer is a resounding yes \u2013 and however un-orthodox, the southpaw remains to look as backward as anything, but I guess as long as the southpaw keeps winning, I\u2019m thinking maybe an Eminem song, \u201cAin\u2019t nuthin\u2019 but a southpaw!\u201d<\/p>\n

For the record, I don\u2019t listen to Eminem, I was just trying to be hip.<\/p>\n

Read what Singer Robbie Dupree had to say about Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, JR.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

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By Gina L. Caliboso I may be dating myself, but have any of you combat sports fans ever hear of the Huey Lewis and the News Song \u201cHip to be Square?\u201d And why the reference to an obscure 80s song? Ever since Nonito Donaire and his noble experiment at southpaw, I got to thinking \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[105,1830,477],"class_list":["post-4689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-boxing","tag-huey-lewis-and-the-news","tag-manny-pacquiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4689"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}