The Theory of the Sweet Science
The Theory of the Sweet Science
One—third of all boxing injuries involve the hands. Boxing gloves, combined with hand wraps can help to prevent hand, thumb and wrist injuries and a condition that is commonly known as 'Boxers Fracture', which is a breakage of the 'neck' of the 5th Metacarpal. Quality Boxing gloves help to stabilize your hand and wrist area, dramatically reducing the risk of hand injury during impact training e.g. Bag work, pad work and sparring. The smart thing to do is use more of your time to keep training hard and sweating it out in the gym, thus avoiding what can be lengthy recovery and rehabilitation periods.
Consider the following extract that was published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine
"Investigations of 100 consecutive hand injuries in boxing have shown that 39% occurred in the area of the thumb, including the radial carpals, metacarpals and phalanges and their joints. These injuries were mostly caused by forced abduction of the thumb. Thirty-five percent of the injuries occurred at the base of Metacarpals 2 to 5, including the wrist joint, and arose from forced flexion of the wrist. Twenty-six percent occurred in the phalanges and the rest of the metacarpals, excluding the bases...in all cases, before the fighter resumes punching, the hand must be thoroughly healed and rehabilitated – a process that may encompass as long as three months."
As a result of boxers fracture problems can occur later in life with both the onset of arthritis and the mechanical functioning of the hand marked by an inability to make a tight fist or grip objects properly. In some extreme cases when attempting to make a fist, the little finger will overlap the ring finger.
There are basically two types of boxing glove and they are as follows:
1. Bag Gloves / Training Gloves – are used for hitting the heavy bag and other impact training such as hitting the pads with a trainer. The weight of these gloves is usually between 12 ounces and 16 ounces, though some bag gloves can weigh as much as 22 ounces. 16 ounce gloves are typically the most common weight for training gloves. Women and anyone with a smaller build may prefer a lighter weighted glove such as 10, 12, or 14 ounces. Although bag gloves are mainly used for bag and pad work they can also be used for sparring providing that the hitting surface is not damaged or frayed as this can cause unnecessary scratches and cuts on your sparring partners face.
2. Sparring Gloves / Fight Gloves – This type of glove is used for sparring and competition in both professional and amateur bouts. They are usually lace up gloves as opposed to Velcro secure. In general 10 ounce gloves are used in Amateur competition and will be either red or blue with a white target area to help the judge’s score. Professional fighters use 8 ounce gloves and the brand and colour is typically decided upon by the promoters of the fight or the particular organization that is administering the event. More detailed information on glove specifications for Amateur Competition can be found at the International Boxing Associations website. The PDF document you need to view is Technical & Competition Rules and is effective as of September 1, 2008.
Other variations in boxing gloves can be broken down into the following categories:
The typical training glove will weigh 16 ounces. People who are not familiar with boxing might assume that 16 ounces is not a lot of weight but when you are throwing hundreds or even thousands of punches during a single training session they start to feel heavy, particulary if your body is not conditioned for this type of workout.
8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 ounces are the modern universal weights for boxing gloves. Generally speaking, the heavier the glove the more it will add to overall strength and stamina to your upper body conditioning, particulary your shoulders (deltoids) and around your shoulder blades. However, many boxing gyms exclusively employ the use of 16 ounce boxing gloves for all round training purposes.
| Weight (onces) | Weight (grams) | Weight (in Golf Balls) | Weight (in Tennis Balls) | Weight (in Other Objects) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 227.2 | 4.9 | 4 | 21 USB flash drives |
| 10 | 284.0 | 6.2 | 5 | 2 wireless computer mice |
| 12 | 340.8 | 7.4 | 6 | 2.4 wireless computer mice |
| 14 | 397.6 | 8.7 | 7 | 2.8 computer mice |
| 16 | 454.4 | 9.9 | 8 | 1 US size 11 running shoe + 1 medium sized orange |
| 18 | 511.2 | 11 | 9 | 3.7 wireless computer mice |
| 20 | 568.0 | 12 | 10 | 4.1 wireless computer mice |
| 22 | 624.8 | 14 | 11 | 1 basketball |
Cleto Reyes - The Mexican—made Reyes gloves are widely deemed as the ‘puncher’s gloves’, they have a sleek design and are widely used in professional competition. I’m told the biggest problem with these gloves are that they get stolen often when careless boxers leave them lying around, so if you invest in a pair, and they are very expensive, make sure you look after them otherwise they’ll go missing.
Everlast - Everlast professional boxing gloves are approved by all U.S. based and International boxing sanctioning bodies including the WBA, WBC, IBF, IBO, and WBO. In Mid 2007 Everlast signed a worldwide license agreement with the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) to be an official licensee for competition gloves and headgear. This four year agreement will allow Everlast gloves and headgear to be used around the world in key boxing tournaments such as, the Olympics, the World Championships, and Olympic qualifying events as well as in AIBA sanctioned international boxing competitions.
Shevlin Boxing Gear is custom made to your specifications. They can personalize your boxing gloves anyway you want using a variety of high grade materials and custom embroidery.
Legacy Boxing based in the US, they produce hand crafted boxing gear made from high quality materials. Owned by the Golombs, who are the family that started the world-famous Everlast name. Their products are mainly aimed at the professional boxing crowd.
ZEPOL boxing Gear specialists in hand crafted boxing gear.
Winning A Japanese company that specializes in making high quality boxing gloves using high grade materials.
Other manufactures include;
For a full list of retailers, specialist stockists and makers of boxing gear visit the International & Australian Directory of Online Retailers & Stockists of Boxing Equipment page
All variation of colours and patterns can be found. Red, blue and black are the most common colours that are in use. Differing boxing rules state that gloves need to be a certain colour when used in official boxing competition.
Outer layers can consist of the following;
Inner layers can consist of the following;
Some Boxing gloves on the market now have what is referred to as gel and air-cell technologies. The technology is employed by the inner or lining of the glove and is different from the traditional horse hair or cotton wadding. As of this writing and as far as I’m aware Title Boxing are the only company that make use of this relatively new development in boxing glove technology
Other Technological features can include;
Typically sizes are Small, Medium and Large. Generally the gloves hand cage (the space where you put your hand inside the glove) is a universal size, but boxing gloves can be manufactured with either small, medium or large hand cages.
Apparently most boxing gloves made in the USA used today have been tested by the Wayne State University Sports Biomechanics Department in Detroit, Michigan. However, not all gloves undergo this treatment and care should be taken to choose quality gloves made from quality materials. Cheap imports are ubiquitous and should be avoided, they won’t only fall apart, but using them will greatly increase the chances of doing serious damage to your hands and wrists.
What activity will you be performing with your new Boxing gloves?
Fitness Training
You’ll need: Bag Gloves
Weight: 12, 14, 16, 18 or 20 ounce
Colour: Any
Sparring
You’ll need: Fight Gloves
Weight: 16, 18 or 20 ounce
Colour: Any
Professional Competition / Fighting in the ring
You’ll need: Fight Gloves / Lace up. Professional bouts taking place within the IBF, WBC and WBA sanctioning bodies can only make use of the Cleto Reyes Brand of boxing glove.
Weight: 8 or 10 ounces
Colour: Decided by the promoters or the governing body of that fight.
Amateur Competition / Olympic trials
You’ll need: 2 pairs Velcro type AIBA Approved Gloves of the same manufacturer. Also gloves which the organizers of the competitions have placed at the competitor’s disposal, and which have been approved by the Executive Committee of AIBA. Note: boxers are not allowed to wear their own gloves whilst participating in official competition. More details on amateur rules and what is required of you whilst participating in official competition can be seen by viewing Technical & Competition Rules
Weight: 10 ounces
Colour: Either Red or Blue (to represent the separate corners of the ring) with a white knuckle area.
A Beginner / New to the sport
You’ll need: Bag Gloves preferably made from vinyl as they are a much cheaper option but they give you enough wear to last long enough in order to feel out if you will stay with boxing as a sport or training method. If it turns out you like participating in boxing training then you can invest in a better set of gloves at a later date.
Weight: 12, 14 or 16 ounces
Colour: Any
I'm confused, there's too many boxing gloves to choose from
If you feel that this is all too much information, you're not alone. For a bit of comic relief, take a look at the Paradox of Choice by sociology professor Barry Schwartz.
Just cut through the bull.... and tell me what I need I hear you say. Ok Done. If you are just interested in training then ideally 16 ounce bag gloves for men and 12 or 14 ounce bag gloves for women, both with Velcro secure locks. With this type of glove you are able to hit the heavy bag, use the double end bag, (sometimes called the floor to ceiling ball) do pad work with your trainer and last but not least, you can use them for sparring. So they are highly versatile and safe for everyone concerned and you can’t go wrong. For training purposes the brand name is not important, however, the main thing to look for is that the glove has a thumb lock for safety, good wrist protection (long cuffs) and be made from a high grade vinyl, or preferably, goat skin or high grade leather.
Taking good care of your gloves so that they last longer is simple:
If you would like to learn more about boxing gloves contact Bill of Billboxing. He's been involved with boxing gloves and their history of manufacturers for over 40 years and is somewhat of a guru on the topic.
How Boxing Gloves are Made
Jack Broughton a synopsis of the first man to invent boxing gloves.
Boxing Gloves a good article provided by Wikipedia.
Boxers Fracture eMedicineHealth provides a detailed article on this particular medical condition.
Medical Aspects of Boxing A very good online e-book with a section that delves heavily into hand injuries.
