Shopping guide | Boxing Gloves

What are boxing gloves made of?

The materials you will find most often on the market are : synthetic, vinyl, PVC and leather. These are the main uses of each:

1.- Vinyl Boxing Gloves

Vinyl gloves are the most economical and are intended for beginners. I sincerely do not recommend them.  They are not very durable, burn quickly with use and can hurt your wrist and knuckles.

2.- Muay Thai gloves made of PVC

This type of glove is also economical, although the price is usually slightly higher than vinyl gloves, they are better in quality. Recommended for beginners. The main drawback is that they are very hard and not as comfortable or durable as leather and synthetic leather gloves. WARNING: In some Clubs the monitors do not let you train with this type of gloves.

3.- Gloves made of leatherette

As for the ones made of leatherette, we can find three types of qualities:

- Low quality leatherette at a very economical price. I would not recommend them as they have the same disadvantages as vinyl ones)

- Mid-range leatherette of a certain quality and with a very recommendable price for beginners or people who do not want to spend a lot of money on a training glove. For example on our website you can find the Buddha Fight gloves for training of Boxing, Muay Thai, Kick Boxing, contact sports and self-defense systems such as Krav Maga.

- High-end leatherette. As an example we could put a synthetic material called Skyntex. This quality leatherette has its pros and cons with respect to leather gloves. The positive aspect of boxing gloves made of good leatherette is that they are more comfortable than those made of leather, as they adapt better to the hand and the durability is very similar to leather gloves that are made of the most economical leathers. The downside would be the price, as it is very similar to quality leather glove models and in a balance you always have to choose leather gloves because of the features they offer. High-end leatherette Gloves are also recommended for beginner/advanced training and competition. 

4.- Leather Boxing Gloves

The most commonly used hides in the market are buffalo, goat and cow skins. The first two are the cheapest hides. Buffalo is the hardest and makes the kick boxing or Muay Thai glove more rigid and uncomfortable. Goatskin is the cheapest and is similar in price to leatherette gloves. The difference is that you can see little grains in the glove. Finally, cowhide is the best quality. They are the most expensive gloves and are recommended for all types of practitioners who want to invest in quality. They are the ones that best adapt to the hand and withstand impacts better. As an example we have the Top King,King, Twins or Buddha Thailand brand gloves.

What weight of boxing glove do I need?

Another important factor when buying a boxing glove is weight, which is determined in ounces. Depending on the use that we are going to give to our gloves we will have to buy a number of ounces or another. IMPORTANT, the scales we give to determine the weight of the glove is relative, it will depend much on the types of training you will do either speed or power and the instructions you get from your teacher before buying it.

1.- The 4 Oz 6 Oz and 8 Oz gloves identify the children's boxing and contact sports gloves. The ounce will depend on the age, weight and height of the child. Please contact us and we will advise you. Internacional@clubdelalucha.es

2.- The 10 Oz is used for amateur and professional competition. It is characterized by having little padding, which means less protection for the opponent and for oneself. The amateur model is characterized by having concentrated padding in front of it to have the most protection possible within this weight range. It is recommended for a weight between 60 and 65 kg.

3.- The 12 Oz. gloves. Ideal for hard sparring training. The 12 Oz glove is a glove that is not padded enough for safe sparring training or thin enough for amateur competition. My recommendation is to buy a minimum 14 Oz glove for training and sparring to provide more security for your partner and yourself. It can be used for hard training, also for women with small hands who want to have as much protection as possible and have the problem that when putting on a 14 Oz glove it dances on their hand. It is recommended for a weight between 65 and 70 kg.

4.- 14 Oz and 16 Oz recommended for daily training and sparring. They are the best weights to work out in boxing, kick boxing and contact sports in general. By having more weight in the hands we get the following important benefits such as hand and wrist protection, protection of the partner and oneself, strengthening of shoulders and arms, helps to take physical resistance and improves speed. If you train regularly with heavy gloves, when you put on lighter gloves you will notice the difference. We recommend 14 oz for 70 and 85 kg and 16 oz + 85 kg.

5.- 18 Oz and 20 Oz are the heaviest gloves. They are usually used for very heavy fighters or specific training. They are special sizes for specific training.

Ideally, you should have a pair of different ounce gloves to choose from for your training system.

Other factors to choose from in a boxing glove

The quality of the filling

The boxing gloves are padded with layers of foam rubber. The higher the density of the filling, the better the absorption capacity. It is best to ask the specialist dealer for advice. One of the reasons why gloves are cheaper or more expensive depends largely on the quality of the padding. Another option we find in the fillers of high-end gloves are gel layers in addition to the foam layers. These gloves are identified with the word Gel. The function of the gel is to distribute the impact of the blow throughout the glove. A highly recommended boxing or kick boxing glove is the Charlie Gel Glove.

Velcro, sweat and stitching

Finally, other important aspects to take into account are that the glove has double stitching (that will ensure greater durability), protection of the thumb, if you want it with a breathable or not (this aspect is a personal decision) and most important of all, the type of closure that the glove has. You can find fixed velcro closure (of the same material as the glove), elastic closure with velcro, mixed velcro closure (of the same material as the glove with a small part of elastic), rope closure and velcro and rope closure.

The closure that best fits the hand is the rope closure, but I would not recommend it because it has the disadvantage that you need a person constantly when putting them on and taking them off. The most practical one, which has a good grip, is the fixed Velcro closure. It is the one I would recommend 100% and the one used by most of the models you will find in the market. The one I would not recommend is the one with the elastic closure either, as it gives way over time and leaves a lot of space.                                                                  

Recommendations to get performance from your boxing gloves

Here are some tips to extend the life and performance of your boxing and contact sports equipment.

1- Never leave your gloves in your backpack after training. It is very important to air your boxing gloves as soon as you get home. You must make sure that the place where you let them air out is never in direct sunlight and avoid damp places . This will ensure that the sweat dries out and is not absorbed by the glove padding. Another trick is to put balls of newspaper inside.

2- To try to reduce the smell of your gloves the most important thing is to follow the advice above. Another trick is to introduce small travel soaps inside them while they air out. Finally, every two or three weeks, always with the interior dry, you can spread talcum powder or fungusol (for foot odor) on your hands and introduce it to impregnate the inside of the glove.

3- For the exterior care we can use, if they are leather gloves ,moisturizing cream or horse cream.

4- Always use boxing hand wraps when you use the boxing glove because besides protecting your hands and wrist it absorbs sweat, it is very important to have clean hand wraps whenever you are going to put them on. (It is enough to put them in soaking with a little softener).           

5- DO NOT WASH YOUR GLOVES IN THE WASHING MACHINE.

6- Do not use your training gloves with rings, chains or watches.

7- When you have been wearing your gloves for a while and you start to notice knuckles or wrist discomfort it is time to renew your boxing gloves, Muay Thai, etc.      

Finally if you have doubts ask for advice from a professional who knows the material. Remember that in our online store we have a wide variety of models and we will be happy to help you choose. If you live in Malaga, you can come to our shop.

I hope that this guide can help you to acquire your specialized equipment for contact sports. 

If you found it interesting, we would be grateful if you could share it with your training partners and friends. You can also leave us a comment.