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Last year two gym mates asked me where to find cheap gloves that were made of real leather and good. I picked 16 Oz gloves from Fighter for them, a European brand from Czechia. I have seen them in various kickboxing tournaments while in Europe as they are popular in the Eastern part like in Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine. As it happens so many times one gym mate took them and the other one never showed up for training. Instead of returning the second pair, I tried them myself and here I am writing a review about them since I trained with them quite often ever since. I guess I used them for around 4 months with 30 rounds of heavy bag workouts per week.
Fighter is a budget brand that produces similar gloves like most better known brands, but they use cheaper materials. The entry price for leather training gloves with 16 Oz in leather is pretty good. It's just about 50 bucks plus tax.
The surface material of glove and cuff is real leather with thicker leather on the actual glove area and thinner one on the strap and cuff. The inside lining of the hand compartment is made from polyester and PU on the inside of the cuff to the best of my knowledge. The PU there feels solid, but I would have rather expected leather in this area. But I guess that is the only thing that I can complain about concerning the material. The stitching and craftsmanship is pretty good for the price. I have seen a lot of 90 Dollar gloves with lower quality craftsmanship. The cuff is relatively long and closed with a wide velcro strap. According to the product description the padding is made from a one piece injection molded padding. The cushioning of the padding is a lot firmer than Twins or TopTens in comparison. It has a good elasticity with a healthy anatomic fit and medium wrist support. My hands hurt a bit after the first couple of workouts. It took me at least 10 days to break them in. Ever since they feel better and I have no more pain in my hands.
When hitting the bag they provide a nice and realistic feeling of impact. Not too soft. Initially, a bit too hard for my taste, but I got used to it. My other gym mate who got the same gloves used them for around 9 months almost daily for sparring, focus mitts and heavy bag. I am a middleweight and he is a heavyweight with bigger hands and more power. His initial problem was that the hand compartment around the inside of the thumb was feeling too tight. After awhile he got used to it and said the leather did widen a notch to make him feel more comfortable. While my gloves show virtually no tear or wear with the exception of the leather in front of the knuckles getting a but rougher, his show a bit of tearing on the inside lining. It may be because he has bigger hands, but he is also taking off his gloves frequently in training, i.e. he takes them off when it's his turn to hold the mitts and then putts them on the next round again. I guess he is also more likely to leave them inside the gym bag over night than me. I always take them out right when I get home. I noticed the leather needs to dry out well, otherwise it would get soft and feel wet.
Personally, I was surprised about the good craftsmanship on the surface and the stability of the padding. I have seen worse gloves for higher prices. The time to break them in took me a bit too long. 16 Oz. is pretty much the exact weight of the protector. I recently purchased another new pair of Fighter bag gloves that I will review when I have used it for a while. I am impressed with the quality for the price. Of course one can't compare them with Rival or Reyes, but Fighter gloves are certainly better than Everlast, Windy or Title's entry models imho. As almost all gloves in that price range they are made in Pakistan, but they do have a couple of distinct features on them so they aren't the typical clone gloves one might expect. They were wrapped in plastic and if I remember right they came with a small mesh bag.
Here is the link to the model used. It's sold in the US by Fighters Inc.:
https://www.fighters-inc.com/boxing-gloves-fighter-th1611blkr-67.html
Below a few images. The gloves are available in other colours such as green and white.
Fighter is a budget brand that produces similar gloves like most better known brands, but they use cheaper materials. The entry price for leather training gloves with 16 Oz in leather is pretty good. It's just about 50 bucks plus tax.
The surface material of glove and cuff is real leather with thicker leather on the actual glove area and thinner one on the strap and cuff. The inside lining of the hand compartment is made from polyester and PU on the inside of the cuff to the best of my knowledge. The PU there feels solid, but I would have rather expected leather in this area. But I guess that is the only thing that I can complain about concerning the material. The stitching and craftsmanship is pretty good for the price. I have seen a lot of 90 Dollar gloves with lower quality craftsmanship. The cuff is relatively long and closed with a wide velcro strap. According to the product description the padding is made from a one piece injection molded padding. The cushioning of the padding is a lot firmer than Twins or TopTens in comparison. It has a good elasticity with a healthy anatomic fit and medium wrist support. My hands hurt a bit after the first couple of workouts. It took me at least 10 days to break them in. Ever since they feel better and I have no more pain in my hands.
When hitting the bag they provide a nice and realistic feeling of impact. Not too soft. Initially, a bit too hard for my taste, but I got used to it. My other gym mate who got the same gloves used them for around 9 months almost daily for sparring, focus mitts and heavy bag. I am a middleweight and he is a heavyweight with bigger hands and more power. His initial problem was that the hand compartment around the inside of the thumb was feeling too tight. After awhile he got used to it and said the leather did widen a notch to make him feel more comfortable. While my gloves show virtually no tear or wear with the exception of the leather in front of the knuckles getting a but rougher, his show a bit of tearing on the inside lining. It may be because he has bigger hands, but he is also taking off his gloves frequently in training, i.e. he takes them off when it's his turn to hold the mitts and then putts them on the next round again. I guess he is also more likely to leave them inside the gym bag over night than me. I always take them out right when I get home. I noticed the leather needs to dry out well, otherwise it would get soft and feel wet.
Personally, I was surprised about the good craftsmanship on the surface and the stability of the padding. I have seen worse gloves for higher prices. The time to break them in took me a bit too long. 16 Oz. is pretty much the exact weight of the protector. I recently purchased another new pair of Fighter bag gloves that I will review when I have used it for a while. I am impressed with the quality for the price. Of course one can't compare them with Rival or Reyes, but Fighter gloves are certainly better than Everlast, Windy or Title's entry models imho. As almost all gloves in that price range they are made in Pakistan, but they do have a couple of distinct features on them so they aren't the typical clone gloves one might expect. They were wrapped in plastic and if I remember right they came with a small mesh bag.
Here is the link to the model used. It's sold in the US by Fighters Inc.:
https://www.fighters-inc.com/boxing-gloves-fighter-th1611blkr-67.html
Below a few images. The gloves are available in other colours such as green and white.
