Do I need a mouthguard if I wear a helmet?

Hey I'm new to boxing. Me and my friends want to do some casual boxing, mostly just for the workout, we'll never enter competitions. We were thinking we would wear boxing headgear / helmets to try and keep from breaking our noses and jaws and stuff when we are sparring.

I have read that if you box you should get a dentist's impression of your teeth for your mouth guard. Is this still true if we wear a helmet or will that protect enough to let us use a cheaper mouth guard?

Also do you still get broken noses when you wear the helmet?

You dont have to hit each other for a workout, it would be cheaper to get hook and jab pads and do it that way.

If your intent on doing it get a mouthpiece, A boil and bite will do you fine.

No, most headgear wont protect your nose, thats your job ;)

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into those hook and jab pads. Would they sell them somewhere like Sports Authority or do I have to find a boxing store?

Also do you know of any good boxing stores online where I can get the best prices on stuff like that?

yea the sports authority should sell the punch mitts....or u can find them at www.ringside.com or www.titleboxing.com

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Originally Posted by Memphis

You dont have to hit each other for a workout, it would be cheaper to get hook and jab pads and do it that way.

If your intent on doing it get a mouthpiece, A boil and bite will do you fine.

No, most headgear wont protect your nose, thats your job ;)

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Unless they where those gridiron helmets ;D .

I think fightgear have helmets that have a bar that comes across in front of the nose which offers pretty much full face protection..

My friends put on motobike helmets with the visors taken off ::)
I suppose that's the equivalent of the gridiron helmet.

But yeah you can find a link to fightgear @ ringside.com

I also enjoy a bit of casual boxing I guess you would call it. My friends and I do it to beat the living hell out of each other though ;D Not for a workout. Never the Less, I usually use my 12 oz gloves and no Head gear or mouth guard at all. Once, against the toughest guy I have faced, we both wore head gear and he wrapped his hands. I noticed that he hit damn hard, much harder than anyone of my past opponents. Even with the headgear it rocked me pretty good, I rocked him as well. I have two quick questions really so bear with me please. 1. could his power have come from wrapping his hands at all? 2. Should I consider buying a mouthguard?

Wrapped hands no doubt pack more of a punch (so to speak)... Their was an article on here not to long ago about how one of the big boxers used to wrap his hands in simply a different way to everyone else and it supposably gave him more power in his punches. So wrapping compared to not wrapping at all should certainly make a difference. You should try it on some of your friends, don't wrap for a round, stop and wrap and then go at it again, and get them to tell you if your hitting harder.. (if their body language after getting a few good ones to the head doesn't let you know)

OK how does this sound:

This headgear:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

And wearing boil-and-bite mouthpieces, using sparring gloves...

Does that sound safe enough? Would that headgear be enough to keep us from breaking noses or do we need the face cage type?

Also what kind of gloves do you use for sparring and casual backyard boxing?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hellbore

OK how does this sound:

This headgear:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

And wearing boil-and-bite mouthpieces, using sparring gloves...

Does that sound safe enough? Would that headgear be enough to keep us from breaking noses or do we need the face cage type?

Also what kind of gloves do you use for sparring and casual backyard boxing?

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Well first off, if you have never boxed b4 and it sounds like you have not, then chances are you guys are not going to hurt each other too bad the first few times. That is because you will all become tired very quickly and your punches will not have much form, and thus lack power, IMO. It takes a bit of sparrin to get your punches to have any real power. Trust me.