Anthony Joshua: How to choose your best boxing gloves.
How to choose the best boxing gloves can be a confusing process and many amateur boxers waste good money buying the wrong type or weight of glove - especially when they are starting out.
And using the wrong glove can not only impact performance and power, but also reduce protection against injury.
That’s why by the end of this article we hope you’ll be much better informed on how to pick the right pair for you.
So if you’re buying your first boxing gloves or looking for a new pair read on and we’ll try to help answer some of your most commonly asked questions:
- What are the different types of boxing glove?
- Why are boxing gloves measured by weight?
- Are boxing gloves with laces or velcro fasteners best?
- Should you wear hand wraps with boxing gloves?
- What are the best gloves for beginners?
Let’s get into it…
Choosing the best boxing gloves - the short answer…
Just as most golfers won’t get the same results from their golf clubs as Rory Mcilroy it’s unlikely as an amateur golfer you’ll make the same impact as Anthony Joshua when you slip on your new boxing gloves.
But that doesn’t mean your choice of glove is any less vital to your enjoyment, performance and protection.
But how to choose the best boxing gloves for you can be a confusing and difficult process. There are all sorts of options in terms of fit, weight, type and even whether you need to wear wraps or no wraps!
The quick answer as to which type of gloves are best for you is that it depends on what you want to use them for.
For example, in most quality boxing equipment stores like here at AJBXNG you’ll find gloves listed under different categories like bag gloves or sparring gloves or by weight category, which helps to narrow down your options.
It's also a matter of personal preference: some people prefer smaller, more compact gloves while others like the protection that comes from heavily padded mitts.
First off let’s take a look at the different types of boxing gloves.
What are the different types of boxing glove?
To an untrained eye all boxing gloves can look the same and as a result it’s easy for beginners especially, to choose the wrong glove for your individual training goals.
As a general rule there are three types of training gloves and two styles that are used in competition.
Each of these boxing gloves are designed to perform different tasks and each has unique qualities that both protect you and allow you to perform to your best. So first we’ll take a look at the different category of glove and then we’ll talk about weight.
1: BAG GLOVES
It’ll come as no surprise that bag gloves - like these from the AJBXNG range - are meant to be used in heavy bag, speed bag or pad training!
What you may find interesting is that bag gloves are designed with less padding in the knuckles than other boxing glove types.
While this may seem a bit odd, bag gloves are designed this way to allow fighters to “feel” their punches and become used to the impact.
If you throw an awkward punch the lighter padding means you’ll feel it immediately and in time be able to adjust your action and style.
Typical weight 12-14oz
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2: TRAINING GLOVES
Training gloves are a great all-around option for boxers and great gloves for beginners. They are built with sufficient padding to be used for both bag work and sparring but aren’t necessarily specialised for either.
Training gloves can be a great introductory glove with ample support for novice and veteran fighters alike.
Typical weight 12-16oz
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3: SPARRING GLOVES
In contrast to training gloves, sparring gloves are built solely for sparring and have extra padding, not only to protect you, but also your sparring partner. Sparring gloves will be sized the same as trainers but can be a tad bit heavier due to the extra padding.
Sparring gloves are essentially just gloves that are extra-padded to protect your sparring opponent. Regardless of your weight and size, most boxers will use gloves weighing 16oz or more to spar.
Typical weight 14-16oz
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4: COMPETITION BOXING GLOVES
Competition-level gloves are designed with the fight in mind.
With less padding in the knuckles, these gloves are built for your opponent to feel the punch. They are also sized by weight division.
There are two levels of competitive boxing gloves: amateur and professional.
Why are boxing gloves measured by weight?
You’ve probably noticed that boxing glove sizes are typically sold in 2oz weight categories.
Now you may think that 2 ounces doesn’t sound like much, but for each increase in glove size, you’re basically getting an additional 2 ounces of padding in front of each knuckle, and belive us when we say if you’re taking a shot from someone with the unching power of Anthony Joshua you’ll want those extra 2 ounces - and then some more!
Most brands will sell 10oz, 12oz, 14oz and 16oz weighted gloves. This gives you plenty of choice when selecting the right boxing gloves for you.
At either end of the scale, 10oz is the size most professional boxers use for fights (although some will use lighter 8oz gloves), and 16oz is the most common boxing glove size for sparring due to the extra padding.
How to choose the right weight boxing glove for you
Depending on what you’re doing you might want a more or less padded glove – for example if you’re just lightly hitting pads you might want a thinly padded glove for speed.
On the other hand if you’re in the ring sparring or practising hitting a partner then you’ll want a glove with more padding to reduce the impact and potential for injury.
To give you a better idea for which weight of boxing glove will suit you and your training best, the chart below gives a rough guide to the different glove weights and their purpose:
Are boxing gloves with laces or velcro best?
Fastenings on a boxing glove are a key feature in making sure your comfortable and protected as generally the tighter the fit the more secure your hands will be.
Basically there are two main options laces and velcro.
Whilst laces offer a tighter fit and better wrist support, they’re not as easy to use. You can’t tie laces by yourself, so you’ll need your training partner or trainer to lace you up before each training. That’s why nowadays lace-up boxing gloves are almost exclusively used by professional boxers.
Velcro boxing gloves are much easier to use by yourself and can be secured almost as tightly as laces. We’d say 9 times out of 10 the hassle of laces isn’t worth the extra benefits, unless you’re a pro like AJ.
That’s why, while we do have some lace up gloves most of our training gloves are designed with velcro fastenings.
Do you need to wear hand wraps with boxing gloves?
We would highly recommend our audience do wear wraps where possible.
Wraps will give your hands some extra support, comfort and most importantly protection whether you are sparring or training on a bag.
They will also secure your wrists further limiting your chances of injury.
The final bell...
Regardless of type, the best boxing gloves for boxers of all levels should always be comfortable to wear with hand wraps, fit the shape of your hand, wrist and fingers.
A good guide as to whether you are wearing the right pair of boxing gloves is that they should never hurt your hands after a punch.
Having said that, it’s important to note that all gloves, even the very best boxing gloves, have a break-in period.
So be prepared that your boxing gloves probably won’t be comfortable straight out of the box. You’ll need to give them a few weeks to fully mould around the unique shape and fit of your hands.
However, hopefully having read this article you now feel better prepared to know what you you’re looking for and you’ll be able to find the best boxing gloves both for your training needs and your hands.
