This is a review for the 16 oz. Ringside Ultimate (Classic) Bag Gloves. Here is the link to the product page on the Ringside.com website:
http://www.ringside.com/DETAIL_Ultim....ASPX?ID=25148
I picked these up for $69.99, marked down from $79.99. The shipping was great. They arrived in about 5 business days via UPS, and the built in tracking system on the Ringside website made it very easy to track. When it said that the gloves were "out for delivery", I knew to wait at my apartment and sure enough they came only a short while later.
I have been training in western boxing for a short time, just a little over a month about 4 times a week. I started out with some Title Classic gloves that my gym sold me on my first day. I didn't know anything about gloves at that time, so I just bought them without a second thought. I think they were, however, too small for my hands and ended up giving me some hand problems when hitting mitts and the heavy bag, and the quality of those gloves was in question. I didn't want to continue going to class and having discomfort when training, so I decided to do a bunch of research and pick up some new gloves. I read a ton of reviews from this forum and also looked at a lot of websites. There weren't any in depth reviews on these specific gloves, but they were mentioned occasionally. Once I felt educated enough, I decided on these puppies. Here are the pics:
Sizing:
Ringside has a basic sizing format for these gloves which is indicated by weight. I'm 6'1'', 195 lbs. I have pretty big hands, and I fell under the "large" size weight range so that's what I picked up. The gloves fit me very well. Without handwraps on, there is a fair amount of space in the hand compartment, but I always wear handwraps no matter what I'm doing, and with them on they fit perfectly. I know some people like really snug fits in their gloves. I wouldn't say these are extremely snug.
Looks:
I really like the way these gloves look. I know they aren't for everyone's taste, but I like simple designs and I love the color black, so these gloves really caught my eye. I also like how there isn't a huge logo printed across the actual glove. The craftsmanship is evident in the stitching of the gloves as well.
Comfort:
These gloves are amazingly comfortable! Even when they were brand new, they were much less stiff than the title gloves (even after they were used for a couple weeks). There is plenty of knuckle protection and I can't really imagine hurting my knuckles with these gloves on. The hook and loop closure system is interesting. It's not elastic. It's a very solid material and it feels very secure around my wrist. Despite it not being elastic, you can really tighten or loosen it as much as you want. I've used these gloves for about 4, 2 hour training sessions. They are really starting to mold to my hand shape, and they continue to get more comfortable with time. Definitely high quality in the comfort department.
Performance:
One thing that amazed me about these gloves is how light they feel. My titles were 14oz. These are 16oz. but feel much lighter and feel more like a part of my hand rather than a huge thing around it. I think it is due to the way the glove is balanced, and I feel like I can punch very fast and smoothly with them on. They are very easy to take on and off. They also have cool-max lining on the inside which keeps sweat build-up to a minimum.
Overview:
I would highly recommend these gloves. Please keep in mind that I am fairly new to the sport and so don't have a lot of experience with different gloves, however you can tell just by the look and feel of these that they are high quality and made with care. They also come with a 1 year warranty which says a lot about the faith the makers have in these gloves. Since I've started using these gloves, the pain in my wrist and hand is all but gone and I am able to practice full force on the heavy bag and mitts without discomfort. Hopefully I covered all the important points, please let me know if I can answer any other questions about these.
