From beginner to professional, suit up in the right gear to get you where you need to go.
BEGINNER
BAG GLOVES - To start off right, you need to have quality equipment that will provide adequate protection and give you some room to advance. Your gloves should be well-formed and fully padded. They should provide the kind of punching surface that, even if you don’t wrap your hands perfectly or hit your target accurately, they are forgiving and will keep you from getting injured.
SPARRING GLOVES – Although, in the beginning, your sparring may be light and infrequent, it's still necessary to have the right gloves to hit and get hit with. It's best to begin with softer, heavily-padded gloves that will allow you to get accustomed to getting hit and will provide the best learning experience possible for both you and your sparring partner.
HANDWRAPS - Your handwraps should be long enough to give you full coverage and protect properly, but not so long that it impedes your ability to make a fist or add unnecessary weight. The right wrap will form and contour perfectly to the shape of your hand.
HEADGEAR - The headgear you start with should be form-fitting and not bulky. It should have ample coverage for your cheeks, nose, mouth and chin. You may take more punches starting out than you would like, so err on the side of having a headgear with more cushion and comfort.
MOUTHPIECE – Because you would be only engaging in partner work or limited sparring in the beginning, your mouthpiece can be fairly basic. As long as it provides protection for your teeth and jaw, while you get used to hitting and getting hit, then that's all the protection you need in the early stages.
GROIN PROTECTOR - Your groin protector doesn’t have to be big and bulky to provide enough protection from low blows and punches that land on the hips. It just needs to provide some level of padding to reduce impact.
BOXING SHOES - In any boxing shoe, you want one that provides good support and traction in the ring. It also needs to be lightweight so that you move in and out of range quickly.
INTERMEDIATE
BAG GLOVES - As you get more advanced, hitting harder and landing with more frequency, the amount of padding and protection your gloves provide becomes more important. You will also become more discerning about the quality of gloves you use, how they fit and the level of performance. Ideally your bag gloves will have a more dense foam than your sparring gloves might have, for instance, so that they will stand up to the pounding you'll be giving a heavy bag. A more solid foam will hold up longer and provide the amount of protection you need when striking harder surfaces.
SPARRING GLOVES – Moving up in skill level, punching power, speed and accuracy, you'll need sparring gloves that compliment your progress. Adequate padding, a perfectly, pre-curved design, along with a higher level of wrist support will allow you to punch with confidence at this next phase of your career. The padding should be soft, but not spongy and should curve to the shape of your hand, especially as you break them in over time.
HANDWRAPS – How you wrap your hands and the quality of materials you wrap them with becomes more critical as you become a better boxer. Some elasticity creates some “give” as you wrap your hands, but also creates a more stable, contoured fit that you can feel on impact. Wrapping your hands properly is an important part of your progress, because boxers plagued by hand injuries are constantly working at a disadvantage.
HEADGEAR – As you begin sparring more and facing better competition in the gym, you'll want to step up to the next level of headgear, opting for more padding, more coverage of your cheeks, eyes and nose, yet you want it to be contoured perfectly so that you don’t add unnecessary bulk.
MOUTHPIECE – Protecting your lips, teeth and gums becomes a higher priority the more you progress in the sport. Your mouthpiece may be THE most important piece of protective gear you can own. At the second stage of your development, when you begin sparring more frequently, you'll want a mouthpiece that creates some separation at the base of your jaw and provides a more personalized, custom fit.
GROIN PROTECTOR – The bigger shots you are exposed to from more, and better, sparring partners, the more protection you need from those blows that might stray “south of the border.” Be sure that your protector fully covers your groin, lower abdominal area and your hips. You want effective, but streamlined coverage that doesn’t add excess weight.
BOXING SHOES – Whether you're a puncher or a pure boxer, you want a shoe that is supportive, but flexible so that you can move freely around the ring. If you dig your toes into the canvas for power, you want good traction. If you stay on your toes and move a lot you want lightweight shoes. The right shoe will provide the capability to do either or both.
PROFESSIONAL
BAG GLOVES – When you're the top of your game, your head and your hands become precious tools of the trade and can only be trusted to the best. Your gloves are the last place to cut corners and you'll want the best fit, feel and performance every round you spend in the gym. High quality construction and blending of materials that hold up to round after round of heavy work are necessary. The right gloves should allow you to make a complete fist, provide full wrist support, knuckle protection and encourage you to connect with precision and accuracy.
SPARRING GLOVES –Sparring becomes a more common part of your training routine the higher up you get in the sport, so the gloves you wear become more important. They need to have ample padding and a perfect anatomically-correct shape. The right sparring glove should be form-fitting and compact like a pro fight glove, but with more padding. It should be similar to what you’ll be actually fighting in so that you can get accustomed to the feel.
HANDWRAPS – Once you’ve hit the elite level of the sport, competing with the very best in the game, protecting the 29 small bones in your hands becomes an art. A longer, elastic style wrap will give you the most protection. It will provide some “give” when making a full fist, but will also provide the exact amount of support you need to keep every bone in place to land the perfect punch.
HEADGEAR – Avoiding taking unnecessary punishment is crucial when you're fighting at the highest levels of the amateur ranks or in the pros. At this point, your future and your profession may depend on having headgear that protects every contact point, from your cheeks and chin, to your forehead, nose and eyes. Your training headgear can help prevent injury and damage that might otherwise slow your career down or stop it completely.
MOUTHPIECE – A mouthpiece doesn’t have to be expensive to give you the full protection you need for your teeth, gums and jaw, but spare no expense here. The best mouth guards have some thickness at the back which helps create separation between your jaw and the base of your skull so that you gain some protection from contact.
GROIN PROTECTOR – As you fight more rounds the last thing you want is added weight and bulk to haul around the ring, so the best protector at a higher level is one that is contoured well to protect your hips, lower abdomen and groin area, but is still lightweight and flexible. One that covers all vulnerable areas, but doesn’t inhibit your movement is going to do you the most good.
BOXING SHOES – The best boxing shoes have to be durable to last round after round, lightweight so that they don’t slow you down, flexible so that you can move and change direction freely and supportive, so that you are secure with every step you take. A good shoe can help keep you stay one step ahead of the competition and adds the foundation your need to go toe-to-toe.
Shop for all levels of boxers here.