Gloves

[Sharla]

OK stupid stupid me lost my much loved sparring gloves!!!!!!

The last pair I had were Ringside gloves. I use ten ounce fight gloves made from moulded (not layered) foam. I have permission to wear ten ounces for sparring in my gym since I'm a midget

I'm looking to spend about $100.

I like a glove with a nice round sort of shape since I have small hands gloves which are to flat or square in shape seem to have too much padding where it doesn't count and not enough where it does.

Before I buy a pair can anyone recommend some within my price range which would be better than Ringside?

[Chris Nagel]

Currently I use a pair of 10 oz Cleto Reyes gloves that cost just under $100 bucks on ebay. I'm very happy with them. I didn't buy them because they are so called 'puncher's gloves', I got them because I heard that they are durable, and fit like... a glove.

One thing is that I am able to make a fist as easily as I wasn't even wearing gloves. As I see it, a lot of poorly made gloves use the foam claw which actually impedes your ability to make a fist. I believe that the ability to make a good solid fist is a big factor in preventing hand injuries, and may even affect punching power.

My gloves came with the attached thumb which I cut it so I can to put my thumb where it belongs. I know that 10 oz isn't a lot of padding but it hasn't bothered my hands one bit. For extra protection I use the long mexican style handwraps along with taping my hands. I use a ribbon style of wrapping my hands which puts more padding on my knuckles, with less tape going over where my fingertips rest on when I make a fist. After my hands are wrapped, putting on the gloves feel like putting on a second skin. I am very happy with the fact that I can open and close my hand with no extra effort at all.

It also helps that my punching bag doesn't feel like cast concrete.

Anyways, they're great gloves made to a standard that other gloves fall short of. I wouldn't mind getting myself another pair in the future if the price is right.

[donnydarkoIRL]

For the "round" shape that you describe there is a company called "top ten" who do amateur gloves that have a nice round shape.

What Chris said about Cleto Reyes gloves is true, they are the most comfortable. However, they are particularily unforgiving on the opponent.

Everlast do a nice "round" glove aswell. Grant are good for protecting the hand (which I feel is the reason Calzaghe has started to use them over everlasts.)

Ergo are aquality glove, a brand i lust over, but are not particularily suited to the small hand.

[Sharla]

Awesome advice thanks and CC guys - now all I gotta do is start shoppin.....

http://www.toptencanada.com/store/sh...subitem=0012-B

Anyone know anything about this Bayfill material they mention here? Is it safer than normal moulded foam found in competition gloves or not really any better?

[donnydarkoIRL]

Sharla as a follow up to another equipment thread I opened a short time ago I've learned that "Starpak" boxing equipment (particularily headgear) is made or distributed by Ergo boxing equipment. Great stuff for the gym.

[Trainer Monkey]

Believe it or not,the Title cheapies are actually pretty good
Reyes should be banned

[Sharla]

CC again hitmandonny and Trainer Monkey - I'm still looking so all this info is really helpful.

[RozzySean]

While we are on this topic...

I bought a pair of Title 16oz gloves at the recommendation of my first coach. They give a lot of protection and a obviously they make you work, being 16oz. I was told that they are sparring gloves, but they are perfectly OK for bag and padwork. They are bit hard to get on without help, so when I left my old gym due to a scheduling change, I picked a pair of very cheap Top Contender 12 oz bag gloves for occasion heavy bag and double ended bag work.

My coach new hasn't said anything, but I few guys in the gym told me that I should same the Titles for sparring because I'll ruin them doing bag work and get something the 14oz Ringside velco wrist gloves for bags and pads. Personally, I like the extra 2oz and the better wrist support that I get from the Titles. Sometimes I put on 12oz gloves to feel the difference and my handspeed difference is amazing.

Am I ruining the Titles and should I save them for sparring only? I would just as soon stay with them and if/when I compete, fight in gloves a full 4oz's less than I train in. That can only be good for my handspeed and endurance, right? Am I going to kill the Titles that much sooner by doing all my bagwork with with them?

[Sharla]

I bought my bag gloves and my sparring gloves at the same time. They are both the same weight and the same brand. The bag gloves are made out of layered foam while my sparring gloves are (or were ) made out of moulded foam. I was told that layered foam gloves will last longer and be better for bag work while moulded foam gloves wear out faster but are safer for your opponents in sparring.

So despite the bag gloves being supposed to last longer they are nearly dead and I wouldn't have to buy new sparring gloves at all if I hadn't lost them (stupid mistake!!!! ). I am using the bag gloves now for very light sparring until I get new sparring gloves but I need to be ultra careful because I don't think they're safe at all.

So yeah I agree with your training partners that it's best if you can save your sparring gloves for sparring and bag gloves for the bags. Even get two pairs the same if you like them so much and use one pair only for sparring and the other for bag work and see how much faster the bag gloves wear out and how much safer the other ones are for sparring with.

[Trainer Monkey]

While we are on this topic...

I bought a pair of Title 16oz gloves at the recommendation of my first coach. They give a lot of protection and a obviously they make you work, being 16oz. I was told that they are sparring gloves, but they are perfectly OK for bag and padwork. They are bit hard to get on without help, so when I left my old gym due to a scheduling change, I picked a pair of very cheap Top Contender 12 oz bag gloves for occasion heavy bag and double ended bag work.

My coach new hasn't said anything, but I few guys in the gym told me that I should same the Titles for sparring because I'll ruin them doing bag work and get something the 14oz Ringside velco wrist gloves for bags and pads. Personally, I like the extra 2oz and the better wrist support that I get from the Titles. Sometimes I put on 12oz gloves to feel the difference and my handspeed difference is amazing.

Am I ruining the Titles and should I save them for sparring only? I would just as soon stay with them and if/when I compete, fight in gloves a full 4oz's less than I train in. That can only be good for my handspeed and endurance, right? Am I going to kill the Titles that much sooner by doing all my bagwork with with them?

Just for bag and double end Id go with a cheap pair of Everlast bag gloves
Their cheap,they give just enough support,and theyll last to the end of time

[ThomasTabin]

I don't like any glove larger than 8 oz. Any larger and you begin to stray from a real fighting experience and you develop your fighting style based on those experiences. But I can see why people wouldnt want to use realistic gloves for something like day to day sparring. Even though you would learn more from one day of realistic fighting than you would from a whole year of a inaccurate simulation. Your defense would improve for one thing.


I myself hate the feel of a big glove and I don't see how anybody can stand them. Some of them (I guess many of them) won't even allow you to make a closed fist or at least not with great effort first. They end up not only weighing down your arms but they also force you to clench the muscles in your forearm and wrist tightly just to make a fist. You have tense up your arm just to punch and because of that you tighten your arm up and you slow yourself down. This also makes your movements stiff.

One way around that is to take some tape and wrap it around the glove so that the fist area is wrapped down to make a closed fist. This allows the glove to remain closed by default so you don't have to squeeze down hard just to punch. This also reduces some of the bulk which will give you more fluidic movement and reduce the feeling of being weighed down by large objects on your hands.

Or you could be even slicker than me and stitch down the finger tip area to the palm creating a nice clean fist.

You will notice the difference immediately.

[donnydarkoIRL]

I agree again Thomas, I hate large Gloves, although I now were 16oiz gloves in sparring religiously as it's helping me with my defence and when i put on the fight gloves they feel like nothing more than gauze.

[RozzySean]

CC's all round for the advice. I think I'll end up getting a pair of everlast's or ringsides, just for the bag. Thomas, I understand what you mean about difficulting closing the fist and extra tension in the arms from big gloves. I'll keep them for sparring, but I'll use a different set for bag and pads. I'm going get 14oz, as I do like the extra workout I get from the extra weight. I'm 35 and not the quickest guy out there, so I need all the help I can get with handspeed.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Weight is something I've been debating for the last while, I'm going to get a pair of Ergo's but i'm reluctant to get 16oz's as if I don't like them I won't use them.

I was thinking 12 or 14 oz as you can get away with them in our gym for sparring so maybe I don't know.