Boxing Gloves For Sale
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Boxing gloves are probably the first item of equipment that anyone buys. They are that essential item anyone needs for competing, sparring, or even hitting the heavy bag. Be sure to watch the video below and read out overview so you know the best style of glove for you.
Boxing Gloves: Overview
Boxing Gloves: Features
The two main types of boxing glove either come with velcro or laces. The lace-up version provides a better, more secure fit, but does require assistance when putting them on. What’s more, lace-up gloves are usually wrapped in tape around the wrist to stop the laces from cutting and opponent or hitting him in the eye. Velco gloves, for their part, offer additional support for your wrist.
Speaking of support, hand-wraps made from cotton used under the gloves to further reduce the risk of injury. Generally, hand-wraps are available as 120 inches or 170 inches in length, and are often put on by the trainer prior to sparring or bouts. Trying to wrap your own hand can often cause them to unravel during the contest.
Both the gloves mentioned above can have three types of padding: foam, horsehair, or a combination of both. Although horsehair gloves generally last longer, they offer less protection. Foam gloves tend to absorb the impact of blows better.
Boxing Gloves: Amateur Bouts
In amateur boxing matches the boxers wear red or blue gloves, which matches both their corner and their apparel. Today you will often see a white area around the knuckles of an amateur’s glove – this is regarded as the scoring area. Only blows struck with this part of the glove are counted by the judges.
Boxing Gloves: Safety
It is widely accepted that the use of boxing gloves reduces the risk of cuts. Furthermore, since the WBC introduced the now standard ‘Thumb Glove’ (a glove where the thumb isn’t free to move around) there has been a significant reduction in the amount of ‘eye poking’ incidents.
Boxing Gloves: Types
Bag gloves: 8 oz; 10 oz; 12 oz; 14 oz; 16 oz
This type of boxing glove is heavily padded and is highly recommended for any punching bag work.
Sparring gloves: 4 oz; 6 oz; 10 oz; 12 oz; 14 oz; 16 oz; 18 oz; 20 oz
These gloves are designed to protect both participants in a sparring session – shielding hands and reducing the impact of blows to the head & body.
Competition gloves: 8 oz; 10 oz; 12 oz
Typically, these gloves have less padding than sparring gloves.
Boxing Gloves: In the Spotlight
There have been a few instances when the boxing gloves themselves were as much part of the story as the boxers who wore them. We delve into the intriguing history of boxing to uncover a few of those stories…
Luis Resto vs Billy Collins Jr. 1983
At Madison Square Garden Resto beat rising prospect Collins by unanimous decision after 10 rounds, with Collin’s face looking decidedly worse for wear. Collin’s father shook hands with Resto after the bout but noticed his gloves seemed thinner than they should be. He immediately demanded that the New York Stare Athletic Commission confiscate the gloves for analysis.
After an investigation which took almost a month, the Commission revealed that Panama Lewis, the trainer of Resto, had removed padding from the gloves prior to the bout. Resto was suspended for a year and his win over Collins changed to a No-Contest.
So serious was this case that it actually went to court in 1986 with Resto and Lewis being charged with assault, conspiracy, and possession of a weapon (the loaded gloves). The court case turned even uglier when accusations surfaced that ‘plot’ had been devised due to large amounts of money being bet on Resto to win. Following a guilty verdict, Resto spent two and a half years in prison.
In 2007 Resto finally admitted that he knew Lewis had removed padding from his gloves and had done so on two other occasions. To make matters worse, he went on to reveal that Lewis would also apply a plaster of Paris like substance to his hand wraps to increase his punching power even further.
Antonio Margarito vs Shane Mosley 2009
Although not actually involving the gloves but the hand wraps instead, this story still deserves inclusion.
As is the custom, hand wrapping can be supervised by a member of the opposing corner, and this is where things went wrong for Margarito… Prior to the fight, Naazim Richardson – the trainer of Mosley – noticed that a white, pasty substance was on Margarito’s hand wraps. Immediately he suspected Margarito of cheating and duly ordered the hands to be re-wrapped. Wet ‘Pads’ used on the wraps were seized and taken away for analysis. Studies by the California Department of Justice laboratory later revealed that they were similar in nature to plaster of Paris.
Although Margarito himself claimed that he knew nothing of this substance, both he and his trainer Javier Capetillo were banned for a year. Interestingly, the California State Athletic Commission did actually believe Margarito’s claims, but as he was seen as the ‘team leader’ they deemed that Capetillo’s actions must rest at his feet.
Other points of note are that the fight with Mosley still went ahead (Margarito lost be TKO in the 9th round), and many people strongly believe that Margarito had successfully used the ‘loaded gloves’ in his previous bout with Miguel Cotto.
Cassius Clay vs Henry Cooper 1963
In a non-title fight at Wembley stadium Cooper almost caused a massive upset when he sent Clay to the canvass at the end of the fourth round. Still feeling groggy as the start of the fifth round approached, his trainer, Angelo Dundee, felt Clay needed a bit longer to recover before sending him out to face Cooper’s deadly left hook again. The ploy was to tear a small hole in Clay’s glove and insist to the referee that a new pair would be needed.
Contrary to popular belief, the gloves were never replaced, and Clay was only able to receive and additional six seconds of recovery time. Cooper was unable to capitalise on the fourth round knock down, but did go on to state that the additional time Clay received didn’t have any bearing on that.