Well I got an itch and had to scratch it again. This time thought I needed/wanted a new set of sparring gloves and a quick flip through the ringside catalog and I was on the phone dropping my hard earned cash on yet another set of gloves. I had been looking for another set of sparring gloves off and on for awhile to tell the truth. I already own a pair of ringside’s International style gloves that I have had for ever and there nothing wrong with them. But every once in awhile you just have to buy new stuff
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Back to the point of this review, my purchase of Ringside’s Gel Shock Safety Glove. Like I said I don’t really need any new gloves right now so let me explain why I bought them in the first place. I spend most of my time in the gym teaching boxing and kickboxing. And my place provides gloves and wraps for the students. The gloves we have are Everlast’s blue and white Training glove, which I think is available everywhere for around 30 bucks. They get used a lot. They get used in my classes, they get used by the aerobic kick punch classes and they get used by anyone else who after watching this season of the Ultimate Fighter decides they want to hit a bag or each other. Most of my serious students are college students and most attend a local Christian College that doesn’t even charge tuition most do mission work at local churches to pay the school back. They don’t have money to spend on boxing equipment. So when I can I drop a dime here and there and pick up some stuff that I keep around for them to use while I’m there. This is why I bought the gel shocks. For them to use on me. So now we will begin the actual review.
I was looking for gloves in the ringside catalog and ran across a pair of black leather gloves with grey palms and thumbs. The description list was
“Gel Shock Safety Training Gloves break away from the traditional foam padding and utilize the latest shock dispersing gel technologies. By adding the Gel Shock system to our Safety Training Gloves we've created the premier Training Glove. Durable leather construction with a suede thumb and palm gusset. Convenient wrap-around Hook & Loop closure.
Gel Shock Safety Training Gloves Style: GELRP Sale Price: $69.99 $59.99
A quick note about ordering from ringside, make sure you check both their sale catalog and the website ,
www.ringside.com. Many times the prices are not the same. In this case they were but a pair of super bag gloves I ordered with them were $5 cheaper ordered by phone.
I liked the look of the suede and black and was curious about the gel shock system. And I decided what the heck, I’ve heard of gel inserts for shoes why not gloves. I figured I could be gelling like Magellan soon. I’m a sucker for a slick marketing campain.
Although I’ve bought many sets of gloves from Ringside I am always puzzled by their fit system. In bag gloves they use the wearers weight to judge size in sparring gloves the ounces of the glove. Now in the Gel Shock glove they list 14, 16 and 18 ounce models. But as my international gloves are a different cut I wanted to find out which fit I would need.
Instead of calling like I have in the past I decided to try live help on line. A quick click of the mouse and I was typing to Joshua B. It took a few minutes to answer the question but he finally said that all the sparring gloves have the same size hand pocket. So trusting the helpful Joshua B, I ordered the 14 oz. Two days later the wonderful brown truck arrived and dropped off the gloves.
Now I was suspicious of all sparring gloves regardless of weight fitting the same and a quick fit of these gloves confirmed that suspicion. These gloves would not fit anyone with large hands. I may be over 200 lbs but have smallish hands(in comparison my bag gloves from ringside are a medium, up to 170lbs) However being blessed/cursed with small hands worked for me this time cause I liked the fit and I’m sure after break in they will be fine.
I examed the gloves and liked the look of the suede palm and thumb. However I noticed that the leather wasn’t what I’m used to from ringside. It had a different feel. Not bad or cheap just different. Ringside leather has always had a special feel to me I don’t know whether it’s the tanning process or that they only use leather from left handed cows. These felt like the leather Title uses. Using my wife’s gloves as comparison. A little less pliable and not as soft or rich to the touch.
I did notice some minor differences between these gloves and others I have owned. First was the wrist strap. In every other ringside brand sparring glove the strap around the wrist is stretchy elastic material, these had a 3” nylon strap. The Velcro was incredibly sticky. The hook side felt like tiny fishhooks and it held like it too. The elastic cover that flips down over the strap was also different, this time a stronger material with less stretch. An improvement. This feature has always been a favorite of mine, I hate stopping my work out to refasten my gloves, and I hate the little tiny rash that open Velcro leaves on your arms and face. The roll down cover fixes both these problems.
The lining they used in the Gel Shocks appears to be much thicker than their previous lining. It has a great feel and I think that may be my favorite part of these gloves so far. Like I said before these gloves are tight and that includes the cuff area. However this is not a bad thing it feels pretty supportive. Now I’ll stop writing on this novel of a review of looks and feel.
Next time actual use.
