Where to Buy Boxing Gloves?
Outlets, high street retailers, online shops, car boot sales… There are a bunch of different places you can find boxing gloves, but you can’t always guarantee the quality or be sure that they’ll fit you, let alone be right for purpose. Most people participating in boxing training will need at least a couple of pairs of boxing gloves, and since they’re designed to protect your hands while you train, you must get the right size and weight for you and your type of training.
But don’t worry. We can tell you everything you need to know about buying the right boxing gloves.
Where Can You Buy Boxing Gloves in the UK?
There are a few sports equipment shops on the high street and online where you can buy decent boxing gloves as well as a few other pieces of boxing equipment. But as boxing is a combat sport and your safety is the most important thing, it’s best not to put too much faith into the quality of these shops’ boxing equipment. Instead, buying from a specialist boxing equipment manufacturer is ideal, as you know they’ve got the industry expertise to create high-quality boxing equipment.
Sometimes buying high-quality sports equipment can be very expensive, however, it doesn’t have to be, and there are places where you can buy great boxing equipment for a reasonable fee.
Like Maxx Pro Boxing! With our team of combat sport experts, we design and manufacture boxing equipment fit for the best, and at an affordable price, so you don’t have to break the bank to keep yourself safe. Our online shop is filled with everything a beginner boxer needs to get started training and keep them going as their skills advance and even turn professional. Plus, we deliver across the whole of the UK for just a small fee, so you can get started training in under a week from your purchase.
You can even see how popular each of our items is from the number of purchases displayed on the site. The important thing, however, is to make sure you’re buying the right gloves for you.
How to Know What Boxing Gloves to Buy
Boxers will need different weighted boxing gloves for different aspects of their training, as the heavier the glove, the more padding there is for protection. What size you need will also depend on your weight.
Sparring requires heavier gloves as you want to replicate a real fight without really hurting your sparring partner, so a thicker cushion is needed to absorb the shock of your punches and protect your knuckles as well as your training partner. Training with a heavy punching bag will also require heavy boxing gloves, but lighter than those used for sparring, so you can still protect your knuckles from the heavy bag, but make the most of your training. Finally, real fights require the lightest of the boxing gloves you’ll need because you want your opponent to feel the full might of your punch to get that all-important knock-out or simply dominate your rounds.
So now you know you should be investing in three pairs of boxing gloves if you’re going to train, spar and fight in real boxing matches, you need to know approximately what gloves are suited for what person.
- 6 – 8 oz gloves for people under 45 kg
- 10 – 12 oz gloves for people between 46 and 68 kg
- 14 oz gloves for people between 69 and 80 kg
- 16 – 18 oz gloves for people over 80 kg
This is a general guide and can be used for beginners to get their first pair, as well as the pair you use for your training. Children can generally use 4 – 6 oz boxing gloves, however, there are gloves made specifically for children to factor in their smaller hand size.
What Size Boxing Gloves Do Professionals Use?
Professional boxers will also have a few different-sized pairs of boxing gloves for their training sessions and their real fights. Also, the weight of the gloves they use depends on the weight category they fit into.
Heavyweights i.e. fighters over 200 lbs (90.7 kg) like Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson and Anthony Joshua, will typically use 10 oz extra large gloves in their boxing matches and 16 to 18 oz boxing gloves when they train. A welterweight, on the other hand, i.e. fighters between 140 – 147 lbs (63.5 – 66.7 kg) like Sugar Ray Leonard, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. will tend to use 8 oz boxing gloves in the ring and 10 to 12 oz gloves when training.
Having large hands is a big benefit to a boxer, so some will wear larger gloves than is normal for their weight category. Female boxers will also sometimes have specialist female boxing gloves to account for their smaller hands to give them better protection.
What Size Boxing Gloves Should Beginners Use?
While beginner boxers will benefit from a few pairs of boxing gloves just like more advanced boxers, if you’ve never boxed before and want to try it, it’s worth just buying one pair to begin with, to make sure it’s the right sport for you. That pair of boxing gloves should be an all-rounder pair so you can use them on focus pads, heavy punching bags and speed bags. So it’s best to use our size guide for your weight when choosing the best boxing gloves for you.
What Boxing Equipment Do Beginners Need?
As well as having a few different pairs of boxing gloves for different parts of your training, it’s useful to have a few alternative boxing gloves, and other pieces of boxing equipment so you can train safely at home.
You need to maintain your boxing gloves well to keep them in good condition for as long as possible. Looking after your boxing gloves primarily involves spraying the inside with disinfectant and airing them out after each use, so if you train regularly, you’ll need a few pairs to keep your others clean and bacteria-free.
Some other important pieces of boxing equipment for your at-home or in-class training include:
- Focus pads
- Heavy punching bag
- Speed bag
- Head guard
- Hand wraps
Focus pads are a great way to train with a friend as one person wears the cushioned gloves and moves accordingly as the other person throws their punches at the gloves. This is one of the best techniques for improving coordination as well as learning punch combinations.
For those training alone, a punching bag is a necessity. Heavy punching bags are great for practising powerful punches and improving cardiovascular ability helping with weight loss, while smaller bags like speed bags are great for hand-eye coordination.
Head guards are only really necessary if you’re sparring to protect your head from any strikes, but boxers of all abilities will need several hand wraps, not just professionals.
Are Hand Wraps Really Necessary?
Hand wraps aren’t an alternative to boxing gloves; however cool Rocky Balboa may have looked wearing just hand wraps to train, neither using hand wraps alone nor punching butchered animals are good techniques for practising boxing.
Hand wraps are designed to closely wrap your hands to provide support for the small bones, ligaments and tendons within your hands when feeling the impact of a punch. They wrap between the knuckles to help prevent anything from moving uncomfortably or the impact from breaking your knuckles, but you still need to wear boxing gloves over the top of your hand wraps to provide enough cushion to your knuckles to prevent pain and injury to your fists.
You should have a few pairs of hand wraps to make sure you can wash them after each use to keep your boxing gloves fresher and prevent sweat causing bacteria and a foul smell in your gloves, as well as to ensure you always have a pair ready for when you train.
Buy the UK’s Best Boxing Equipment
If you want to take boxing and your safety seriously, you’ll need the best equipment. Browse our collection of boxing gloves at Maxx Pro Boxing today!
