About Boxing Stances

An old axiom in boxing is that "all punching starts from the ankles." The stance does, too. Encompassing foot placement, posture and guard, the boxer's stance is the core of everything else. An improper stance means bad balance, cutting off access to power in the legs and bad footwork. Also, it is in the stance that words like "orthodox" and "southpaw" have meaning.

Terms

"Orthodox" means a right-handed fighter, while "southpaw" means a left-handed fighter. The stances are different, so as to place the fighter's better hand in the power position or recessed. That means the lead hand and foot will always be the inferior hand--left for orthodox fighters.

The Basics

Boxers are usually taught to box out of the Stand-Up Stance, only developing out of it as they learn what works best. However, the stance is an effective one and remains the bread and butter of Continental European fighters. The feet are placed shoulder-width apart, with the inferior foot--left for orthodox, right for southpaw--placed in the lead position. The guard is high, with the inferior hand leading and in front of the face. The superior hand is kept cocked in a power position, near the chin.

Variations: Footing and Crouching

As boxers learn more about their talents, they modify their stances. For example, a short boxer might crouch more, to exaggerate his lack of height and that makes him harder to target. Others widen their stance, which sometimes increases hitting power by allowing a fighter to get more weight behind a punch. Another trick is to tuck the chin into the neck and hunch the shoulders, thus minimizing the profile of the head.

Variations: Guard

The most obvious variations are in how a fighter carries his hands. A common practice for pro fighters with good reflexes--or who are substantially taller than their opponents--is to carry the hands low, sometimes waist height. This confers some advantages in punching, but the main benefit is not having to hold the hands up for the entire fight. However, this also eliminates the last-ditch defense of having a guard in place. Almost the exact opposite is the Peek-A-Boo stance, where the arms and gloves are kept close together and in front of the face and upper torso.

The Southpaw Stance

Southpaws have a serious advantage, in that they almost always box orthodox opponents, whereas orthodox opponents rarely box southpaws. Against a southpaw, the left jab of the orthodox boxer is virtually useless, and is usually replaced by the straight right. Contests between orthodox and southpaw boxers usually revolve around a contest of footwork, as both fighters struggle to keep their lead foot outside that of their opponent.

Squaring Up

Regardless of the variations on stance, the idea of keeping the feet spread apart, with a lead foot and a recessed foot, is universal. Abandoning this basic tenet of boxing stances is called "squaring up," and results in bad balance.