How committed are you to training? The reason I ask is the level of commitment corresponds to how much you can and should spend. If sparring is a goal, the commitment level could be great. If you are obsessed, think of training at work, while eating, while laying in bed that night and training is the highlight of your day, then you need to consider your body a tool. Your legs, your hands, your core muscle groups, your shoulders and arms are tools. Since we’re talking gloves, let’s focus on your hands. Anyone with any experience in training can tell you how difficult training can be with sore or injured hands. To use an often quoted axiom, they are the “tip of the spear”. You have already experienced how poorly made gloves can frustrate your goals. Therefore, the question remains, how committed are you. If you intend to make training a lifestyle, you need gloves that reflect that. You can spend a lot. There are gloves you can spend a large sum on that are complete crap. However, there are “bargains” that are top flight professional gloves that are as well made as any on the market. By bargain I mean they are worth more than you spend on them considering how much time and effort you put into using them. If I was a heavyweight, dispense with the thought of training with 16oz gloves. I am 57 years old and 183 lbs/ 83 kilos and the lightest gloves I use are 16oz. I use them for mitts or going more than 12 rounds on the heavy bag. I mostly use 18oz and often a 20oz pair for sparring. You weigh at least 200lbs/ 90 kilos and you may as well train with the heaviest gloves you can stand. A well made pair are well padded and the right kind will support your wrists. My personal preference are lace ups for wrist support. I have a pair of lace n loops on my gloves. Just pull the strings tight, wrap the stings around the cuffs and pull the strap and it’s on. My favorite gloves for sparring are my 20oz Topboxers. (Custom Aliens-Mexican style gloves) They have a long cuff and great padding. I also use 18oz Cleto Reyes. Rival and Infinitude are also great 18oz gloves. My absolute favorite gloves are genuine Mexican made Casanova’s in 16oz. Unfortunately they do not make an 18oz glove, but Necalli and Gil both make 18oz. I use them for anything in the boxing gym, bag work, mitts, double end bag, body bag and sparring against better sparring partners. By better, I mean younger, more talented boxers. A close second would be Boxeo’s. Again, genuine Mexican made gloves. Now this is my personal preference. Mexican made gloves are made to punch. Your fist can close securely in a natural fist. They align the wrists behind your knuckles in a linear line when your hand is in a clenched fist. You can drive a punch like a piston. I would admonish you that a lot of people are uncomfortable in a Mexican made glove. If your skin is tender, you may dislike the lining. Now tender does not mean you are a p***y. The heaviest handed pro at my gym cannot stand Mexican made gloves. He even likes me hitting him with them even less. I do not have tender skin after years of training. I have what is best described as calluses on my first and second knuckles from using Mexican made gloves. These are made to punch not sleep in. I take my gloves off immediately after training and air them out as I live in Texas (hot and humid) and have poured sweat out of my gloves and wrung sweat out of my wraps. Reyes has a better lining. For the record, the most comfortable glove I have ever used are Winnings. However, I like more wrist support and my hands are not as indestructible as they were in my youth. I would say I have to try very hard to throw a punch with poor technique to strike a bag or a sparring partner’s headgear improperly with Mexican made gloves. My suggestion to you is look at Topboxer’s website. These are very comfortable gloves and are great for all around training. The price cannot be beat. (Anywhere from $110 to $149 US for a custom pair) I am obsessed with training and it is the selfish highlight of my day. I think about training before I fall asleep at night considering what I will do the next day. Again, I am 57 and it is becoming harder to get sparring. Not because I am a terror but because there are few experienced boxers who want to spar with an old man. Occasionally, my experience makes a young fighter look bad. But mostly, the fighters who will give me some work are very experienced and have sparred many rounds and let me have a few rounds because they want more work. I usually get a boxing lesson but do get to hit them a few times. My other option is a fitness dude whose nuts have dropped and wants to see what it’s like to get hit. (20oz gloves, trainer yelling for me to let him work). However, I am always grateful for the sparring when I can get it. (Usually last-right before the trainer closes the gym) My fighting days are long over but I still have a competitive drive to use all the training on the end goal of actually hitting another fighter. I am slower, have less power and the punches hurt more but it give me a sense of personal satisfaction that is difficult for me to describe. If boxing is like that for you, money you spend to protect your hands is well spent.
