Terence Crawford — While it is difficult to impossible for any boxer to achieve a perfect game from one stance, Crawford seems virtually flawless from both. His left and right jabs pack equal sting, his timing is immaculate and he is rarely off balance. Most significantly, he is always defensively responsible no matter which way he stands, and when he does get hit, he handles it with aplomb.
A look back at some of Crawford’s fight-ending punches reveals how multi-dimensional he is from either stance. As a righty he stopped Yuriokis Gamboa with a left hook, Henry Lundy with an overhand right and Jesse Benavidez with a right uppercut. As a southpaw it was a check right hook against Kell Brooks, a left to the body against Julius Indongo and a straight left against Shaun Porter.
Hypothetically, if Crawford only utilized one stance, be it southpaw or orthodox, he might still have the genius-level IQ and skillset to be arguably the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world today. But the fact that he can do it both ways sure doesn’t hurt his game.
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Naseem Hamed
While Crawford did everything right in the ring, the polar opposite is true for Hamed who committed virtually every faux pas in boxing from both the southpaw and orthodox positions. He fought with his hands held dangerously low and chin invitingly high. He leapt rather than stepped in with punches that were highly telegraphed, threw uppercuts from long distance and showboated to taunt and torment his opponents and audiences alike.
But guess what? It worked for him spectacularly.
His shrewd ability to read his opponents’ body language coupled with crushing power and impressive speed ensured that despite his recklessness, he leveled his adversaries before they could level him. He seemed to know when and where his opponents would move before they did and met them there with his fists. Agile and acrobatic, he could close the distance on an opponent from halfway across the ring and unleash his firepower with both fists from both stances at impossible angles.
Hamed was controversial to boot. He exuded a level of confidence that often crossed the line into arrogance that rubbed many fans the wrong way. But his actions in and out of the ring drew new fans to the sport. He was inducted into the IBHOF in 2015 but is probably the least accomplished fighter among this list of all time greats due to his seemingly premature retirement shortly after his first loss. Love him or hate him, though, he sure was fun to watch.
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Roy Jones Jr.
Jones did many things wrong fundamentally whether he was fighting from a left- or right-handed stance, most notably left. But in his heyday, he had the fastest hands of the era regardless of weight division, and that’s how he got away with it. He could land whatever power punch he wanted – lead hooks, uppercuts, even bolo punches – with his hands drooping or even behind his back before his opponents could even think about throwing a jab. He was fluid with combinations and explosive with single shots regardless of which stance from which he delivered them. His unrivaled speed, talent and IQ allowed him to capture titles from middleweight to heavyweight, but it was at light heavyweight in which his star shined brightest.
Jones sometimes took his foot off the gas and cruised to boring decision wins against far less gifted opponents instead of going for the knockout. He lost his impunity to committing those previously-mentioned faux pas as his speed and reflexes began to erode with age. He stayed in the game too long and was stopped by fighters he would have blown away in his prime. But all that shouldn’t detract from his legacy of being among the best switch hitters of all time.
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Marvin Hagler
Primarily a southpaw, Hagler often switched to the orthodox stance from which he fought almost, if not equally as effectively. A natural righty, his deadliest shot was the right hook from a southpaw stance but he could ring your bell with any punch including the jab from either stance.
Hagler had pretty good one-punch knockout power but,more often than not, he would punish and break opponents down with combinations upstairs and down. He was built like a tank but fought like a buzzsaw, using his superb conditioning to dictate a frenetic pace with which few opponents could keep up.
While switch hitting was one of his best attributes, it ironically also led to the loss in his final fight; by staying right-handed too long, he allowed Ray Leonard to sweep the early rounds en route to a split decision win. Hagler’s reputation as an elite switch hitter is often overlooked, overshadowed by his other legacy as having one of the best chins in the history of the sport.
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Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez
Predominantly a southpaw, Gonzalez was like a miniature version of Hagler who could also box, bang and brawl equally effectively as a right hander. His debilitatingly accurate body punches in particular, from both hands and stances, frequently drew oohs and aahs from the audience. Despite standing at a diminutive 5-foot-1, Gonzalez’s footwork was deft enough to beat taller, rangier opponents to the punch regardless of the stance from which he was fighting. Gonzalez had concussive power in both fists but when opponents didn’t fold, he had the knowhow and stamina to win decisions. His epic trilogy with Michael Carbajal is largely credited for drawing attention and recognition of the smaller weight divisions.
But while both Hagler and Gonzalez shared the ability to fight from either stance, Gonzalez lacked Hagler’s torpedo-proof chin. Hit Hagler with a sledgehammer and the sledgehammer would shatter; when Gonzalez took a direct hit, he often wilted. All three of his losses were by stoppage against fighters with less punching power but more punch resistance than him.
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Potential Greats
Israil Madrimov
At just 10-0-1 (7 KOs), Madrimov is taking a gigantic leap up in quality of opposition in defending his 154-pound title against pound-for-pound best Crawford. With a switch hitting style that’s a hybrid between Hamed and Crawford himself, he has generated buzz among hard-core fight aficionados and become a national hero in Uzbekistan but is still largely unknown or ignored by the general public. He’s not as flashy, flamboyant or reckless as Hamed but instead deploys that swashbuckling style in a more cerebral way. Madrimov may be a few notches below Crawford in terms of ring IQ but nevertheless, he’s pretty well-schooled in the sweet science.
Madrimov has shone against the B-caliber opponents he has faced thus far in his career but has never been tested against a mettle detector even close being a top-ten contender in his division. In a nutshell, there are more questions than answers as to his character and capabilities and some of those questions will be answered come August 3.
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Jaron Ennis
At this juncture, Ennis appears to be the one most likely to complete the transition from potential to all time great. Of the three, he’s the most complete package with no major detectable flaws as of yet. Although he was the last to win a title, he has dominated every opponent he has faced thus far with the composure and experience of a seasoned champion. His toughest test to date came against hard-punching Roiman Villa against whom he passed a grinding chin check with flying colors.
Whether he’s fighting as a lefty or righty, he packs potent power in both fists, his fundamentals are sound, his technique is polished and his execution seamless. He is poised under fire and appears to have good punch resistance. Most importantly, he is grounded, supremely confident in his abilities and not afraid to showcase them.
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O’Shaquie Foster
Although the most accomplished of the three with four world title fights under his belt, Foster is also the most erratic. He convincingly outpointed two-division titleholder Rey Vargas for the vacant title, rallied from behind to stop slugger Eduardo Hernandez in the final round in a candidate for fight of the year and struggled to a split decision win against a very ordinary Abraham Nova. Then, in the third defense of the belt, Foster seemingly coasted to a comfortable win over Robson Conceicao only to be robbed on the scorecards in a candidate for travesty of the year.
Foster’s inconsistency stems not from whether to fight as a lefty or righty; he has been doing both since his early teens. Instead, he seems to have trouble reading his opponents and picking his spots in engaging them. He can do it all from either stance – box, brawl, shoulder roll, circle and counter, be aggressive or defensive. He just doesn’t always do the right thing at the right time against the right opponent.
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Honorable Mention
Mike Tyson
In the heat and frenzy of battle, fighters often get spun around to their opposite stance. Most resort to clinching or stepping out to reset their footing before resuming hostilities. But Tyson, when forced out of alignment, could keep punching fluidly with power and poise from however his feet were positioned – left foot forward, right foot forward or completely squared up – thanks his impeccable balance and fundamentals. Tyson’s punch volley that knocked out Larry Holmes in 1988, for example, began from a right-handed stance but was punctuated with a decapitating right uppercut fired from a southpaw stance You might call him an impromptu or accidental switch hitter.
Tyson Fury
Although he is not the most proficient at fighting from a southpaw stance, Fury occasionally switches to lefty. Sometimes he does it to break his opponents’ rhythm, sometimes simply to take a breather and at other times he does it for no reason other than to amuse himself and experiment with something different out of sheer boredom. His massive size and reach gives him more immunity from the risks of fighting from the less-familiar stance.
