Muay Thai gloves: 6 tips on how to buy great boxing gloves


Picking the right Muay Thai gloves is the single most important decision you have to make when you start completing your training gear. A pair of good quality boxing gloves will serve you for years protecting your wrists and knuckles from injuries.
A pair of cheap mitts may lose their shape pretty quickly and will offer poor protection for your hands.

A pair of quality gloves with dense padding will increase your performance and offer better protection than cheaper gloves. If you are serious about your training then you will have to make an educated choice and pick proper gloves for a heavy bag and sparring. I hope this guide will help you with this task.


Muay Thai boxing gloves


What to look for when buying Thai Boxing gloves?

  • The Price: good quality Thai Boxing gloves from an established brands like Fairtex gloves and Twins boxing gloves will cost you anywhere from $70 to $120 (£50-£90). For less than $50 (£40) don't expect to buy a quality product.

    It is better to spend a few extra bucks on a better product now than to regret it later. Good Muay Thai gloves will offer greater wrist and knuckle protection and will be more comfortable to wear.


  • The Quality: multiple layer padding is a must to effectively protect your hands. Cheaper gloves may have only 2 layers while quality gloves will offer 3 or even more layers of protective foam.

    Thinly padded gloves increase a chance wrist of an injury not only for you but also for your sparring partner. In general, sparring gloves have to be softer than heavy bag gloves.
  • Thumbs must be well protected to eliminate the risk of Bennett's fracture. And don't buy open-thumb gloves - those are not for Muay Thai. Leave them for mixed martial artists and grapplers.
  • Gloves should be stiff around the wrist to prevent it from bending and to protect it from injury. A wrist sprain is very painful and may put you off training for months.
  • Muay Thai gloves should have dense padding around the edge of the glove to protect your hand when blocking and checking kicks. This is very important since kicks in Muay Thai are very powerful and do a lot of damage.
  • Thai boxing gloves should fit well and have easy-to-use fastening straps. Gloves must fit tight without restricting blood flow and also offer extra space for hand wraps. If you don't always use hand wraps stiff wrist support is necessary.


Hand wrapping for boxing gloves

What else you should know before buying a pair of Thai Boxing Gloves:


First of all, you should know that you need to buy at least two pairs of boxing gloves: one for a heavy bag and Thai pads and another one just for sparring.

The reason for that is simple: punching bags damage your gloves and make them harder.
This, in turn, reduces the protection level of your hands and definitely makes them less comfortable for your sparring partner's face.

That's why you should buy another pair and get 16 oz boxing gloves with softer padding just for sparring. A pair of gloves for punching bag drills should be lighter, around 12-14 oz, and harder than the one for sparring.

And remember, there is a big difference between Boxing gloves and Muay Thai gloves. Don't buy Boxing gloves for Muay Thai training. Thai boxing gloves are crafted for specific purposes like checking kicks, neck wrestling, etc. Get a pair that is specifically dedicated to Thai kickboxing.



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