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UPDATED AFTER A YEAR OF USE: 19th September 2013
Bought these gloves from Bill Beaulieu on ebay (billboxing15 is his uername there; his email is [email protected]) who some of you may already be familiar with.
A note from Bill:
Quality & Craftmanship
My first impressions of the glove were extremely positive. The cowhide leather felt soft and high end with a fairly glossy look and doesn't take long to break in. The double stitching was also excellent and not that far off from what you might expect with higher priced gloves like Reyes and Grant.
Inside the glove the nylon lining is comfortable and seems to breathe fairly well but is quite thin and feels a little cheaper than the rest of materials used. It is durable though and didn't rip at any stage. Beaulieu has since used a thicker, cushier lining.
There were also no inconsistencies between the left and right hand gloves which speaks highly of the craftmanship involved.
Hand Compartment
For my hands these gloves are very comfortable. The hand compartment is more narrow than in some other 16oz gloves, I'd say similar to that of Fairtex's professional boxing gloves (BGL3, BGL7 etc) so if you have fatter hands they may take some time to break in. They will accomodate long fingers fairly easily as well. The thumb placement feels natural and the grip bar is positioned well.
Performance & Protection
These gloves are big, longer even than Cleto Reyes 16oz. They are much more narrow than Reyes and end up being somewhat top heavy as a result. This isn't necessarily a positive or a negative, just something to consider. They are probably better suited to sparring than bagwork because of it. Using them on the bags initially I felt like there was almost a bounce to them when throwing my lead hook and my shoulder was taking too much force over time. I think this was possibly because of their shape slightly changing the angle of contact from what i'm used to with gloves that are less well rounded, and also because of the nature of IMF, and I used them only for sparring with no complaints on my end.
The foam padding is a very thick, more on the soft side and offers great hand protection for sparring purposes and it is very forgiving for your sparring partner.
Over time, "bubbles" will develop in the padding. After a year of use mine had quite a few, and this didn't affect performance, but could have eventually compromised the padding inside. Beaulieu has since begun using a different chemical composition for their IMF, and it remains to be seen if this is still an issue.
The wrist support is pretty poor, being lace-up it's never really going to be terrible, but there are velcro closed gloves which are better. There is quite a lot of padding on the cuff which would help if you were blocking shots there and with the triple cuff and laced properly they provide good-enough support if you wrap up tight. The padding should be stiffer along the wrist as it has too much flexibility. Not a big deal so long as you keep these for sparring, just it's something that can be improved upon though if you have weak wrists it could be a deal breaker.
Summary
These gloves are high quality as you should expect from Bill Boxing and are worth the price if you're looking for good sparring gloves.
These are well made gloves that will withstand professional use and provide a good experience for sparring purposes.
Cons:
Wrist support
Padding not ideal for bagwork/pads
IMF degraded over time
Pictures:
Bought these gloves from Bill Beaulieu on ebay (billboxing15 is his uername there; his email is [email protected]) who some of you may already be familiar with.
A note from Bill:
Quality & Craftmanship
My first impressions of the glove were extremely positive. The cowhide leather felt soft and high end with a fairly glossy look and doesn't take long to break in. The double stitching was also excellent and not that far off from what you might expect with higher priced gloves like Reyes and Grant.
Inside the glove the nylon lining is comfortable and seems to breathe fairly well but is quite thin and feels a little cheaper than the rest of materials used. It is durable though and didn't rip at any stage. Beaulieu has since used a thicker, cushier lining.
There were also no inconsistencies between the left and right hand gloves which speaks highly of the craftmanship involved.
Hand Compartment
For my hands these gloves are very comfortable. The hand compartment is more narrow than in some other 16oz gloves, I'd say similar to that of Fairtex's professional boxing gloves (BGL3, BGL7 etc) so if you have fatter hands they may take some time to break in. They will accomodate long fingers fairly easily as well. The thumb placement feels natural and the grip bar is positioned well.
Performance & Protection
These gloves are big, longer even than Cleto Reyes 16oz. They are much more narrow than Reyes and end up being somewhat top heavy as a result. This isn't necessarily a positive or a negative, just something to consider. They are probably better suited to sparring than bagwork because of it. Using them on the bags initially I felt like there was almost a bounce to them when throwing my lead hook and my shoulder was taking too much force over time. I think this was possibly because of their shape slightly changing the angle of contact from what i'm used to with gloves that are less well rounded, and also because of the nature of IMF, and I used them only for sparring with no complaints on my end.
The foam padding is a very thick, more on the soft side and offers great hand protection for sparring purposes and it is very forgiving for your sparring partner.
Over time, "bubbles" will develop in the padding. After a year of use mine had quite a few, and this didn't affect performance, but could have eventually compromised the padding inside. Beaulieu has since begun using a different chemical composition for their IMF, and it remains to be seen if this is still an issue.
The wrist support is pretty poor, being lace-up it's never really going to be terrible, but there are velcro closed gloves which are better. There is quite a lot of padding on the cuff which would help if you were blocking shots there and with the triple cuff and laced properly they provide good-enough support if you wrap up tight. The padding should be stiffer along the wrist as it has too much flexibility. Not a big deal so long as you keep these for sparring, just it's something that can be improved upon though if you have weak wrists it could be a deal breaker.
Summary
These gloves are high quality as you should expect from Bill Boxing and are worth the price if you're looking for good sparring gloves.
These are well made gloves that will withstand professional use and provide a good experience for sparring purposes.
Cons:
Wrist support
Padding not ideal for bagwork/pads
IMF degraded over time
Pictures:
Last edited:
Better than Winning for 200 dollars 
