Bare knuckles vs gloves

[triptych]

I'm no expert in boxing....I just grew up liking it because my dad was a semi-amateur boxer as a kid so I used to watch all the big fights late at nite with him on Australian TV - I loved it when he explained all the uppercuts and jabs, and all, of famous boxers like Rocky Marsciano, Carnera and Muhammad Ali .
Once I was flipping thru the pages of a boxing encyclopaedia and I noticed a part where it said that "boxing gloves were invented to do more damage than bare knuckes to the opponent's face - not to protect the face" !!!! ....I grew up with this thought in my mind for eons. Can any good soul here explain this to me ??!
Thanks in advance.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I think this refers to much smaller (6oz?) early gloves.
These protect the hand, which allow for much harder strikes than bare knuckle. It also protects the face, too, but I think the overall effect is more damage to the face. The same way that MMA fighters hit MUCH harder than with bareknuckle.

I do not think that this observation applies to modern, 16 oz gloves though. These protect the face more than bareknuckles IMO. But they ruin the brains....

 

[triptych]

Thank you. It all makes sense.... I saw old footage of boxers wearing small skintight gloves. In any case, gloves do SOME damage in the long run.

 

[Nova44]

Bone on bone favours the stronger bone, so fist on skull will usually damage the hand and wrist if you punch too hard and try to punch through your opponent. Bone on bone also leaves more external damage like cuts and scarring.

Glove on bone will allow for a lot harder punches as the recoil gets absorbed by the padding in the glove instead of the knuckles. There won't be as much external scarring but glove on bone leaves more internal damage. You can still damage your hands and wrist with gloves though.


Shorter version - Bareknuckles hurt the face, gloves hurt the brain.

 

[tru3f4n]

Bone on bone favours the stronger bone, so fist on skull will usually damage the hand and wrist if you punch too hard and try to punch through your opponent. Bone on bone also leaves more external damage like cuts and scarring.

Glove on bone will allow for a lot harder punches as the recoil gets absorbed by the padding in the glove instead of the knuckles. There won't be as much external scarring but glove on bone leaves more internal damage. You can still damage your hands and wrist with gloves though.


Shorter version - Bareknuckles hurt the face, gloves hurt the brain.

Lenny McLean has a video on this somewhere on youtube

 

[triptych]

Lenny McLean has a video on this somewhere on youtube

Love to see it . Thx

 

[triptych]

Bone on bone favours the stronger bone, so fist on skull will usually damage the hand and wrist if you punch too hard and try to punch through your opponent. Bone on bone also leaves more external damage like cuts and scarring.

Glove on bone will allow for a lot harder punches as the recoil gets absorbed by the padding in the glove instead of the knuckles. There won't be as much external scarring but glove on bone leaves more internal damage. You can still damage your hands and wrist with gloves though.


Shorter version - Bareknuckles hurt the face, gloves hurt the brain.

Makes sense.

 

[Jonny Ninja]

I'm no expert in boxing....I just grew up liking it because my dad was a semi-amateur boxer as a kid so I used to watch all the big fights late at nite with him on Australian TV - I loved it when he explained all the uppercuts and jabs, and all, of famous boxers like Rocky Marsciano, Carnera and Muhammad Ali .
Once I was flipping thru the pages of a boxing encyclopaedia and I noticed a part where it said that "boxing gloves were invented to do more damage than bare knuckes to the opponent's face - not to protect the face" !!!! ....I grew up with this thought in my mind for eons. Can any good soul here explain this to me ??!
Thanks in advance.

The gloves are to protect the fighters hands

 

[triptych]

The gloves are to protect the fighters hands

That's what the encyclopaedia said

 

[Misery Signals]

Only semi on topic but the dumbest thing I see from time to time on this board is when someone tries to insult boxing by saying they have pillows on their fists. I always know they have never boxed for even a day.

 

[triptych]

Sunday boxers or armchair boxers

 

[djacobox372]

Gloves protect the hand and reduce cuts. Both of which help ensure that a fighter won't be put out of commission for too long, which was more important way back when, as fighters fought a lot more often just to make a living.

 

[Seano]

Blows to the head will cause trauma to the brain, gloves or no.

 

[MT5]

Somewhat tangential, but I think gloves make boxing a better sport insofar as they allow more defense. I dont hate bareknuckle but it doesn't have the strategy of gloved boxing IMHO, because there's less defensive moves.

Brain injuries I won't mention.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Bone on bone favours the stronger bone, so fist on skull will usually damage the hand and wrist if you punch too hard and try to punch through your opponent. Bone on bone also leaves more external damage like cuts and scarring.

Glove on bone will allow for a lot harder punches as the recoil gets absorbed by the padding in the glove instead of the knuckles. There won't be as much external scarring but glove on bone leaves more internal damage. You can still damage your hands and wrist with gloves though.


Shorter version - Bareknuckles hurt the face, gloves hurt the brain.

That haymaker of a right in your avatar looks like someone getting hit by a friggin truck!

 

[Dr Fong]

Only semi on topic but the dumbest thing I see from time to time on this board is when someone tries to insult boxing by saying they have pillows on their fists. I always know they have never boxed for even a day.

Well, yes.

But people who think bigger gloves have absolutely zero cushioning effect for the person taking the punch - and there are plenty of these people around - are just as idiotic as those calling them pillows.

 

[BluntTrauma21]

Bone on bone favours the stronger bone, so fist on skull will usually damage the hand and wrist if you punch too hard and try to punch through your opponent. Bone on bone also leaves more external damage like cuts and scarring.

Glove on bone will allow for a lot harder punches as the recoil gets absorbed by the padding in the glove instead of the knuckles. There won't be as much external scarring but glove on bone leaves more internal damage. You can still damage your hands and wrist with gloves though.


Shorter version - Bareknuckles hurt the face, gloves hurt the brain.

Well said. I've been watching bare knuckle boxing a good amount recently and have noticed the absolute savagery that these guys take in terms of cuts and bruised/broken facial bones. It's insane how quickly bare knuckle fights end just from one clean shot or two to the eye socket or whatever. Gloves were made to protect hands and are total game changers in all facets of damage, but in the long run would you rather have a scarred up face or a scarred up brain at 40 y/o?

 

[SandisLL]

Gloves?
Depends from obstacles...


Barehands? It IMHO will be best choice if you will need to do not only striking but also standup grappling in this episode... To punch too is very effective while you really should think and carefully watch where you will land.....for serious reasons....

Without too much thinking about possible hands damage most comfortable to punch ppl with full 100% power is with sparring gloves and ofc normal hands wraps ....
Not with am gloves....

Ofc barehands and especially street type stuff on da tech street is more ⁰⁰risky for hands. Not only immediately some bigger trauma might happen, also micro injuries ....these accumulates....

Hands are very complicated mechanism and a lot of boxers etc generate more power than their hands might bear....even with gloves....therefore these frequent hands injuries etc happens...
Not alone if barehands....

 

[Minowafanatic]

I think this refers to much smaller (6oz?) early gloves.
These protect the hand, which allow for much harder strikes than bare knuckle. It also protects the face, too, but I think the overall effect is more damage to the face. The same way that MMA fighters hit MUCH harder than with bareknuckle.

I do not think that this observation applies to modern, 16 oz gloves though. These protect the face more than bareknuckles IMO. But they ruin the brains....

16oz gloves are only used in sparring, or occasionally for some whitecollar/smoker type stuff. I don't remember if 40+ year olds in the USA box with 16oz as amateurs also.

 

[Dr Fong]

Some people have misunderstood the valid seemingly paradoxical concept that glove fights can lead to more overall brain trauma than bareknuckle fights because of the reasons discussed...with a false paradox that padded gloves magically cause you to punch with equal or even more force by themselves.

People could look at studies clearly showing that bareknuckle strikes are capable of landing with more force than when you put a layer of padding around them - or they could even just ask a random child who will probably be able to tell them the same thing because it's basic common sense.

And that means that while there is some element of truth in the 'head trauma' vs 'face trauma' dynamic, it's a lot more complicated than that because of the high impact bareknuckle guys can deliver.