There are tons of different types, sizes, and styles of boxing gloves out there. Some of them look pretty professional, others really odd. But regardless of their look, their main purpose is to protect your hands during training. And also, to protect your opponent’s face from cuts during the sparring sessions.
A lot of factors need to be considered before choosing the right boxing gloves. But the time you invest is completely worth it. Once you find a pair of really comfortable and durable gloves, you can spend the next several years just enjoying the sport and developing your skills. The pro boxers usually use $400+ training gloves, because they spar and do heavy bag work almost every day. So they need something very comfortable and durable. But you can get a really good pair of gloves for around $40. I personally recommend the TITLE Boxing Pro Style Training Gloves (click here to check the price on Amazon). I REALLY love them because of their excellent quality and affordable price.
When you buy gloves, especially when you are a beginner, you probably won’t want to make a huge investment. If you are like me, you are searching for something at an affordable price which can last long and effectively protect your hands. That’s why I think that the TITLE Boxing Pro Style Training Gloves are great.
They have really good wrist support and thumb/knuckles protection and, unlikely most of the low-end gloves, they can last several years even if you work hard regularly on the heavy bag. Besides the durability, the protection, and the price, there are also some other factors you need to consider before buying boxing gloves. Let’s dive into them, so you can easily make the right choice!
Protection
Like I already mentioned, the number one purpose of gloves is to protect your hands. And more specifically, your wrists, thumbs, and knuckles. Here is how you can see if the glove can protect you effectively:
Wrist support – Almost every newbie feels wrist pain at some point in his training. There are three reasons why this happens:
- Bad technique
- Untrained wrists
- Bad equipment
While, in the beginning, it’s completely normal to have a not-so-perfect technique or untrained wrists, your equipment is something you can choose. To prevent your wrists from injuries, you need to use good boxing wraps (like these on Amazon) and wear gloves that have a full wrap wrist to support your wrists. That can REALLY reduce wrist pain and injuries which, as I already mentioned, are a common beginner’s problem (especially if you do hard heavy bag work).
And the Title Boxing pro-style gloves have great wrist protection even compared to some of the high-end gloves which I have tested.
Tips: 1. Do wrist stretches before every workout
2. Try to turn your body with the punch (especially with the hooks) when hitting the heavy bag. That way you will prevent twisting your wrist.
Thumb protection – Because of the poor design of some gloves, they don’t have good thumb protection. If you wear a well-designed glove, you SHOULDN’T be able to catch your thumb. If you can catch it, that’s not a good sign. Because it’s possible to break it when punching.
Knuckle protection – The padding of the glove is very important. If it isn’t thick enough, you may feel pain in the knuckles while hitting. With the Title Boxing pro style I personally feel no pain whatsoever in my knuckles even after several rounds on the heavy bag.
Durability
Most cheap gloves are falling apart after a few months of active training. I highly value the durability of the gloves, because I like to do many rounds on the heavy bag (the biggest enemy of boxing gloves). I am not the heaviest puncher, but I train multiple times a week so I need really durable gloves. And after two years the gloves I use are still holding up beautifully. It looks like they can last much longer.
Price
When I started boxing, I bought the cheapest gloves I found. And that was a huge mistake… I had wrist and knuckles pain after almost every workout (except after the “spar only” days). And not only that but the gloves fell apart 30 days later. So I had to buy new ones. Then I bought these gloves on Amazon and I was completely ok with the price/quality ratio. Yes, they don’t have the features of the high-end gloves like first ventilation, fancy design, etc, but their quality is good and they are really affordable. That’s why I think they are the best non-pro training gloves.
Size
The biggest boxing gloves (the gloves that some heavyweights use) weigh 20 ounces while the smallest ones (gloves for kids) – 6oz. That means that the heavier you are the bigger gloves you need. For example, if you weigh more than 155 lbs, a pair of 16 oz gloves is the right choice for you. For people that weigh less than 155 lbs, 14 oz gloves are just fine. And if you are a big person (210+ lbs), or you punch really hard you may need bigger gloves (18 oz).
*These are the sizes of the SPARRING gloves. As you can see below, the sizes of the different types of gloves can vary.
Different types
There are tons of different types of gloves, but here we will discuss only the three main types:
Heavy bag gloves – Small gloves (10-14 oz) are used for heavy bag or pad work. They have great knuckles protection but they are also lighter than the sparring gloves. Using them you won’t gas out quickly while working on the heavy bag.
Sparring gloves – Big gloves (12-18 oz). Used only for sparring, this type of glove is designed to protect the boxers during sparring. They are heavy, so you have more power in your punches wearing them. Their size also helps you to protect yourself better, blocking punches more effectively.
General-purpose gloves – Averagely sized gloves (12-16 oz). You can use this type of gloves for literally every exercise that requires wearing gloves – sparring, heavy bag work, pad work, etc. I highly recommend choosing this type, if you prefer to bring no more than one pair of gloves to the gym. The available sizes of the gloves that I use (click here to check the price on Amazon) are 12-16. If you prefer using the gloves mostly for sparring, you better get 16oz. The 12oz gloves are a great choice if you are not a very big person or you want to use them on the heavy bag. 14oz gloves can be used for both exercises – sparring and heavy bag work.
Tip: Note that you have wraps under the gloves. So it’s ok if the gloves are a little bit bigger for your hand. If they are big even with wraps, you can use longer/thicker wraps. If the gloves are too small for you, you can just take off the wraps (just make sure that the wrist support and the knuckle protection of the gloves are on point). So the size doesn’t really matter so much, especially in the beginning. Just make sure you don’t spar, wearing too small gloves, which can hurt your sparring partner.
Easy to be put on
Another thing you should consider, before buying gloves is that you probably will take them off several times during every workout (while resting or going to the bathroom). I made the mistake of buying lace-up boxing gloves instead of velcro. So I had to call somebody to help me to tie the gloves every time I took them off. That was really annoying… That’s why I highly recommend buying velcro gloves so you can take them off when you are resting and then easily put them back on when it’s time for action.
The high-end training gloves
If you have an unlimited budget then the Winning Velcro Training Boxing Gloves (click here to see them on Amazon) is a great choice for you. In my opinion, these gloves are absolutely the best training gloves on the market. After you wear them, your hands will fit perfectly in the gloves because of their ergonomic design. Their wrist support and knuckle protection are so good that you won’t feel any pain, working on the heavy bag all day long, regardless of how hard you hit.
You also feel them lighter because of their balanced weight distribution. There is no chance to injure your thumbs, wearing these gloves, because of their Anti-thumbing stopper, which prevents you to catch your thumbs while punching. Winning Velcro Training Boxing Gloves are the safest and the most comfortable training gloves you can possibly find right now.
Cleto Reyes Hook & Loop Training Gloves (click here to check the price on Amazon) are another example of perfect training gloves. With their 2-inch padding, you just can’t injure your knuckles regardless of how hard you hit. At first, they may feel a little bit too tight but that’s good because it means that they really support your hands and wrists. After a week or two, they should perfectly fit your hand. If you are a heavy puncher, that’s the best choice for you!
How to maintain your boxing gloves
As long as you put the gloves correctly on your hands, you won’t damage them. But there is another common problem with the gloves, especially after a long workout – the smell. Because of the sweat, the gloves can smell so bad that you may start considering burning them (at least I was considering that some time ago). So here are my tips for preventing your boxing glover from smelling:
- Dry your gloves – You can use a handkerchief to dry the gloves inside and outside after the workout
- Don’t keep them in your bag – right after you come back home from the gym, hang the gloves somewhere with nice airflow
- Put them in the freezer – If they smell really bad, you can put the gloves in the freezer during the night. Thus you can kill the bacteria and remove the smell
- Avoid soaking – Or do it only for short periods of time, otherwise, you can damage them.