Boxing gloves are used as a protection of hand during fighting. That is mainly use in case of Boxing. The concept of using hand protection during fighting was first introduced in the ancient Greece by Clement of Alexandria in the 2nd century.At that time leathers are mounted on the hand for protection but no padding was used in the gloves. When the romans incorporated the boxing as a sport by taking it from the Greek, it turned into the game of life & death. Romans were also used the leather as a protection in the boxing gloves but they made hard the leather & used metal studs. As a result at the end of the match only one survived.

This way plenty of improvisations happened& finally the modern padded boxing gloves came with its father Jack Broughton in the 19th century who was a British boxing champion at that time.

Boxing gloves come in different styles & weights. The main types of boxing gloves are as follows:-

• Speed gloves

• Bag gloves

• Sparring gloves

• Fight gloves

Speed gloves: - Speed gloves are made of mainly light vinyl primarily design to protect the hand against scraps when doing light “bag work” during practice.

Bag gloves: - bag gloves are used to protect the athlete from spontaneous heavier striking. These gloves are mostly recommended by the trainers for boxing training. These gloves weighing 8 to 10 ounce.

Sparring gloves: - these gloves are mainly for protection purpose use for both the athletes & weighing 14 to 20 oz.

Fight gloves:-professional fight gloves are mainly less padded but designed in such a way that it can protect the athletes from severe injury which can causes bone fracture.

For training purpose extra padded gloves are used. This provides an extra guard to knuckle, wrists & small bones of the hand. But for professional uses gloves tied with laces are used. These gives a better fit to the hand & there is no chance of slip of the gloves due to the motion of the punches.

The heavier the gloves more will be the protection. Beginners basically use the gloves of 14-18oz. for sparring purpose 16oz gloves are standard & for professionals 10oz gloves are suitable.

Now let’s know what the parts of a boxing glove are. Boxing glove has two main parts. The outermost part is called “skin” which is made of vinyl. The most important part of the boxing glove is the inner part & it is called “Padding”. It is mainly made of high density polyurethane, cotton, nylon taffeta & PVC foam. These are stitched together in the gloves by nylon thread.

The main principal of the boxing glove is the absorbing the shock of the blow. That is absorbing the energy. Padding plays the main role for absorption. It mainly compressed the energy of the blow & absorbed. More the padding, greater will be the absorption.

Though the leather gloves are expensive but they would be long lasting & safe & improve the boxing technique. But for routine practices they are not suitable. There are mainly three types of size for gloves. Small, medium & large. For men large gloves are preferable & for women medium gloves are suitable. Varieties types of design with suitable prizes also available in market.

So why late? Start practising from today to secure one Gold medal & enjoy yourself.

Ahtesham Sadiq is the author of this article on Boxing Gloves. Find more information on Boxing Gloves here.