‘Southpaw’? Uncovering the History and Meaning Behind Boxing's Most Famous Stance
In boxing, ‘southpaw’ is a slang term for a boxer who stands with the right hand in front and the left hand in the rear position. The opposite of a southpaw would be an orthodox boxer, one who leads with the left and holds the right hand in the rear position.
Conventional boxing wisdom has it that the less dominant hand should be used to control the opponent before committing to a punch with the dominant hand. For this reason, orthodox boxers tend to be right-handed, while southpaws tend to be lefties.
But where does the word ‘southpaw’ come from?
Apparently, southpaw was originally baseball slang for left-handed pitchers in the days when baseball diamonds were regularly laid out with home plate to the west. This goes back to around 1885.
Some even point to Chicago sports journalist and humourist, Finley Peter Dunne or "Mr. Dooley", as the man who coined the term.
However, the two-worded term south paw, ‘a person's left hand’, was boxing slang as far back as 1848.
This leaves us with a little conundrum: Did boxing influence baseball or did baseball influence boxing?
References
Etymonline.com. 2022. southpaw | Search Online Etymology Dictionary. [online] Available at: <https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=southpaw> [Accessed 24 January 2022].
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