Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time.
Marvelous Marvin Hagler was an American professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1973 to 1987 and reigned as the undisputed champion of the middleweight division from 1980 to 1987, making twelve successful title defenses, all but one by knockout. Hagler also holds the highest knockout percentage of all undisputed middleweight champions at 78 percent. His undisputed middleweight championship reign of six years and seven months is the second-longest active reign of the 20th century. He holds the record for the sixth longest reign as champion in middleweight history. Nicknamed "Marvelous" and annoyed that network announcers often did not refer to him as such, Hagler legally changed his name to "Marvelous Marvin Hagler" in 1982.
In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjectively preferred, is called the non-dominant hand. In a study from 1975 on 7,688 children in US grades 1–6, left handers comprised 9.6% of the sample, with 10.5% of male children and 8.7% of female children being left-handed. Overall, around 90% of people are right-handed. Handedness is often defined by one's writing hand, as it is fairly common for people to prefer to do a particular task with a particular hand. There are people with true ambidexterity, but it is rare—most people prefer using one hand for most purposes.
Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that a person has no marked preference for the use of the right or left hand.
In baseball, a left-handed specialist is a relief pitcher who throws left-handed and specializes in pitching to left-handed batters, weak right-handed batters, and switch-hitters who bat poorly right-handed. Because baseball practices permanent substitution, these pitchers frequently pitch to a very small number of batters in any given game, and rarely pitch to strictly right-handed batters. Most Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have several left-handed pitchers on their rosters, at least one of whom is a left-handed specialist. A left-handed specialist is sometimes called a LOOGY, coined by John Sickels, and may be used pejoratively.
Ralph Giordano, better known as Young Corbett III, was an Italian-born American boxer. He was the World Welterweight Champion in 1933 and the NYSAC Middleweight champion in 1938. A tough southpaw, he did not have strong punching power but was known for his great speed and determination. Corbett is considered one of the greatest southpaws of all time and one of the all-time great counterpunchers. He was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame in 1959, the Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2004.
A platoon system in baseball or American football is a method for substituting players in groups (platoons), to keep complementary players together during playing time.
Peek-a-boo is a boxing style which received its common name for the defensive hand position, which are normally placed in front of the face, like in the baby's game of the same name. The technique is thought to offer extra protection to the face while making it easier to jab the opponent's face. The fighter holds their gloves close to their cheeks and pulls their arms tight against their torso. A major proponent of the style was trainer Cus D'Amato, who did not use the term peek-a-boo and instead referred to it as a "tight defense." The style was criticized by some because it was believed that an efficient attack could not be launched from it.
Southpaw is another name for a left-handed individual, particularly in sports. Southpaw may also refer to:
Throughout the history of gloved boxing styles, techniques and strategies have changed to varying degrees. Ring conditions, promoter demands, teaching techniques, and the influence of successful boxers are some of the reasons styles and strategies have fluctuated.
Bennie Goldberg was a Polish-born American bantamweight boxer and a top rated contender for the Bantamweight title for a five-year stretch in the 1940s. His professional boxing career spanned from 1937 to 1946. After his boxing career, he appeared in television and movies, worked as a ring announcer, and performed in clubs, often as a comedian, with the stage name Ben Bentley.
In combat sports such as boxing and MMA, an orthodox stance, also known as a northpaw stance, is one in which the fighter places their left foot in front, thus placing their left side closer to the opponent. Because it places the right side in the rear, the orthodox stance can allow for more rotation and distance to accelerate right sided strikes, in turn generating more power. This makes it the most common stance in boxing, as well as MMA, and primarily used by right-handed fighters.
A counterpunch is a boxing punch that immediately follows an attack launched by an opponent. It exploits the opening created in an opponent's guard.
Bias against people who are left-handed includes handwriting, which is one of the biggest sources of disadvantage for left-handed people, other than for those forced to work with certain machinery. About 90 percent of the world's population is right-handed, and many common articles are designed for efficient use by right-handed people, and may be inconvenient, painful, or even dangerous for left-handed people to use. These may include school desks, kitchen implements, and tools ranging from simple scissors to hazardous machinery such as power saws.
Joseph "JoJo" Pedroza Diaz Jr. is a Mexican-American professional boxer who held the WBC interim lightweight title from July 2021 to December 2021. He also held the IBF super featherweight title from 2020 to February 2021 and challenged once for the WBC featherweight title in 2018. At regional level, he held the WBC-NABF, and WBO-NABO featherweight titles between 2015 and 2018. As an amateur he competed at the 2012 Olympics as a bantamweight.
Tevin Farmer is an American professional boxer who held the IBF super featherweight title from 2018 to 2020. Farmer, who is right handed but fights in a southpaw stance, is known for his excellent boxing skills and speed.
Zach Parker is a British professional boxer who held the British super-middleweight title from 2018 to 2019.
Jaron Ennis is an American professional boxer who has held the International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title since 2023. As an amateur, he won a silver and gold medal at the U.S. National Golden Gloves Championships in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
