Review: Top Boxer Custom Winning Inspired Gloves (6/10)

[ClampXVII]

Introduction:

Greetings and salutations readers. I haven't done a review in a very long time. I decided that I had to do a good one. There has been a lot of hype for Top Boxer's (Mohammed Ifran of Pakistan) handmade products. I was skeptical because he was being backed by unsavory posters but once a few of the trusted guys gave him the the thumbs up, I decided to give him a shot. At first he didn't want to sell to me but then he changed his mind after we talked on the boards. He's a real nice guy even though we didn't see eye to eye at first. I was finally convinced by Strat to try his gear and after saving up $160.00 and getting free shipping I placed an order. In return I got the gloves I paid for and a free pair of gloves that I later found out were just prototypes and not meant to be used. This review is based on the pair I ordered and not the freebie.

Warning reading this review will sound like I'm biased but the fact of the matter is this is a very honest and accurate assessment of MY glove. Comparisons are at the end of the review and I know for a fact this is going to cause chaos but I will defend these view points and comparisons because unlike a lot of reviewers I buy from everyone and use the gloves hard before words get typed. Also I have given my favorite companies bad reviews before as well as good reviews. Just be forewarned that you might not like how real this review will get.

Quality & Craftsmanship:

The materials of the gloves look and feel nice and the 16 oz weight is spot on. The leather is my favorite thing about the gloves. This choice of leather may be some of the best I've seen. It's thick and has a very nice gloss to grain look and feel. They look and feel the part of an expensive glove. The downside of the craftsmanship is that these gloves actually remind me of JC Pacheco gloves. They look like real winners in pictures but the aesthetically please glove doesn't mean function. Right out of the box the gloves look great but on closer inspection you can see that there were problems with straight lines of stitching. What I found disappointing is that the same stitching after an average week of training (25+ rounds at 2-3 minutes of bag,mitt work, and sparring.) popped around the cuff and the thumb. It's really disappointing that such a good looking glove has issues with broken stitching this early in the game. The padding is already starting to break down because I'm starting to notice bubbles developing around the knuckles. This problem usually takes a little longer to develop and while it doesn't affect performance, it does look unsightly and I've only the gloves for a few weeks.

Fit & Feel:

The best thing I can say about the fit is that they allow you to land with the knuckles. The fit in the beginning of my trials started off tight especially at the wrists. The wrists area was flat and wide but became looser after a dozen or so rounds. I have thick forearms so I was surprised that even after my hands slipped and I was laced that I could see inside the cuffs of the gloves. I wanted something a little tapered for support but these are just really rectangular and for how tight the gloves feel, they feel like they're not hugging your arm.

The fist compartment isn't too bad. I'm just putting my hand in and folding my fingers over. It's not like I'm holding anything. The lining is comfortable and familiar. They use a cloth fabric lining. I kept the gloves aired out at all times so they wouldn't develop that all too familiar

 

[ClampXVII]

Closing Comments:

Mohammed is a very nice guy. I truly and really mean that. He is pleasant to work with but is busy and slammed with orders. The gloves took a long time to make and get to me and Mo was very apologetic about it. Real cool guy to deal with but he does have some work to do with these models of gloves. I'm probably going to get blasted and called out but I stand by this review. It needs a lot of work even if it's a new design. It's almost like he didn't have a real pattern to work with which is the opposite of what Ring to Cage did. They deconstructed the glove and then reconstructed it. For what I paid and how everyone has been repping him lately, I did expect something that surpassed Ring to Cage. These gloves aren't there yet and I'm a little disappointed and a little frustrated. I actually talked to Mo about these gloves and he was willing to take the gloves back, pay for shipping, but only if I didn't do a review. It's too much hassle to ship them back, wait for them to arrive, him build a new glove, and then get it shipped back. I paid for them so I feel like I'm the one who should be able to review them if I wanted to. I guess I'm out $160.00 and I have to keep a pair of gloves that are already wearing down. The funny part is I was sent a free pair of “throw away” gloves that I liked better.

Final Score: 6/10
-1 for the foam not protecting and not absorbing shock
-1 for broken stitching and craftsmanship
-1 because the thumb is uncomfortable and unnatural
-1 because the wrist support if poor

For those who don't like to read:

+True to 16 oz weight
+Top Boxer is a cool guy
+Good leather
+Aesthetically pleasing
+/-Expensive
+/-Logo could use some refinement
-Foam is not protective
-Craftsmanship and materials leave much to be desired
-Poor wrist support
-Uncomfortable thumb placement
-Product left me very unhappy

Comparisons
It's inevitable and though it may seem unfair it does have to be talked about. I realize that as I'm writing this review that Top Boxer is a one man crew. He operates kinda like Mohsin that it's all on themselves. Top Boxer seems to be newer to the game and is trying to claw his way up and set himself apart but at this point in time he can't match the heavy hitters of the game just yet. Maybe later but right now his gear is very expensive for what I received. The reason I'm including a comparison in this review is that people from all sides are coming to his side without trying out other custom gear from other companies. He's a nice guy and all but logically this review is a very real assessment of the product.

Compared to Winning
These gloves may be Winning inspired but they're off the mark. The foam isn't at all close, the fit is completely different, the lining is just standard cloth type fabric, and the thumb is very uncomfortable. You're comparing grapes to raisins. Yes they look similar but while Ring to Cage made a clone that's at least 90-95% Winning like they went back and refined it to their specs by listening to feedback from users. I say take a pair of Winnings and get that pattern and fit close as possible but even then I still think they're off the mark. Winnings is top notch and a name brand item. If you're gonna do a clone of the glove I say take the best aspects and keep it simple rather than include your own padding with a completely different foam and fit.

Ring To Cage C-17 2.0s
They're not close to what Mohsin offers either unfortunately. As I said earlier Mohsin got a pair of Winnings. My old Winnings in fact. They took the gloves and made a clone but had a weight issue hiccup that they later fixed and even gave the buys the new gloves for free. Construction wise the gloves are great but after getting slammed by all of the internet, Mohsin fixed the issue and even improved the fit, wrists, weight, and logo by listening to feedback from what people wanted. This is what I hope happens with Mo's Winning type glove. Ring to Cage has the closest clone on the market and even did some tweaks that sets them apart from the real product. You can call it a cheap knock off all you want but at $100.00 you will not find a glove that is better than this. Hands down the best glove and clone I've ever seen from any company. The best part is that for $130.00 you can get the glove customized. Be warned however that Mohsin is a one man crew and the best way to get his attention is to hammer is phone lines!
Pictures

 

[ClampXVII]

The super wide wrists
In this picture it looks tight...

but as you can see it's very wide and you can see into the gloves even when it's laced up. The cuff doesn't hug the forearm at all so the foam padding doesn't cinch the wrists down.




In this picture the glove is straight but it looks to be at an angle. The padding is cut short doesn't extend to the cuff at all and it leaves a gap.

 

[ClampXVII]

These are the popped stitching areas



In this picture there is a noticable flat spot on the glove and the first noticable bump from the foam breaking down. It's actually bigger and more raised than the picture shows.



The paint is rubbing off

 

[ElvisFan9889]

Dang man, sorry to hear that. I do like my beaulieu ortho gloves but that's completely different than these.

 

[ironwolf]

Good review. I wonder why you had problems but everybody else seems to love theirs....any idea???

I also don't like the idea of offering up a new pair IF you don't do a review. That's how things are done here in china and it's bullahit because it's impossible to get a good assessment so thank you for eating the cost in order to do an honest write up.

There's a website here in china that is similar to amazon (search for what you want, order it....) but there are problems with knockoffs/fakes, the real problem is that if you return the item, ou can't leave a review....so you really never know when red rig from there, it really blows because it's one of the only places I find lots of stuff here.

So again, thanks for te honest review.

 

[Deathstriker]

People buy from Topboxer because he is the only one out there who offers a wide array of colors, foam, and customizations of boxing gloves for a good price.

If you want Winnings, buy Winnings and don't go for clones.

 

[ClampXVII]

People buy from Topboxer because he is the only one out there who offers a wide array of colors, foam, and customizations of boxing gloves for a good price.

If you want Winnings, buy Winnings and don't go for clones.

He isn't the only one out there anymore actually. He didn't even have the original colors that I wanted. Yes. If you want Winnings get Winnings. If you're on a budget and need a very similar glove that offers almost the same protection than get Ring to Cage. Yes those 2 gloves are very different but when you bring price into the mix than the gloves are more balanced than most people think.

This was my experience for the gloves that I got. I know Top Boxer is going to come in and comment soon though. He's a cool guy but this was my experience with the gloves. More pictures coming soon.

 

[Dtenny10]

Good review. I was interested to read your experience.

It

 

[Deathstriker]

The review was good and reasonable. You did cover some of the imperfections Topboxers gloves have so I know you are telling the truth. They just aren't big enough to be considered major problems.

 

[beaglepuss]

Comparisons are at the end of the review and I know for a fact this is going to cause chaos but I will defend these view points and comparisons because unlike a lot of reviewers I buy from everyone and use the gloves hard before words get typed.

Amem to that Clamp!

 

[kondoras]

Why he didn't want to sell to you in the first place ?

 

[ClampXVII]

I think he thought I would needlessly bash on his gear without cause. I didn't want to buy from him because of his association with someone, but after their relationship didn't seem to be mutual I decided to give him a chance. He was getting high praises for his gear and at that time I thought it would be a good investment.

 

[Minowafanatic]

Good review! Too bad about the craftmanship on that pair, stitching doesn't look good. At least you have the freebie pair to make up for the $160.

In terms of wrist support, as that is something I am interested in in the progression of Topboxer gloves, how is it? The review mentions that the gloves don't hug your forearm, and that there's space there, but I didn't find where it would mention the actual wrist support except in the summary. As for the actual wrist support, is there a lot of flexibility there or is it stiff, or does the padding just not properly enclose your wrist either even when the laces pull it together there?

What "unsavory posters" are you referring to in the OP?

I think the only thing that's "Winning inspired" about this model of gloves, or rather, about the stock order model of gloves known as being "Winning inspired" is the padding, and obviously this pair used orthopedic foam instead of what the stock "Winning inspired" gloves use. I have a pair of orthopedic foam gloves coming so am interested in seeing how they'll perform, as shihtzu and goldenboy previously had positive reviews, though their padding composition might be completely different to that reviewed here.

 

[Minowafanatic]

To clarify the actual gloves that are most closely based on actual dissections of Winning gloves, can be shown here as V1:

^taken from the Topboxer thread I made.

So the gloves in the OP are the V2 with some colour customisations, except they dont even have the Winning inspired padding in them, which to me seemed to be the only thing left that was Winning inspired.

 

[ClampXVII]

That's the thing the wrist support is just poor. The versions 1 gloves seem to be the throwaway pair I got from him which isn't close either. They look exactly the same as those pictures and Mo said that the padding in those gloves are the real Winning padding. The blue gloves padding were actually his idea btw. He wanted to do it and I was like OK cool. I'm just not happy with the gloves and taking the pictures of the gloves problem areas pissed me off more. $160.00 down the drain.

 

[Minowafanatic]

The throwaway pair are the black ones? They definitely look like V2 without a doubt, rather than V1. The blue ones look really chunky which I suppose is because of the orthopedic padding, as the others with that padding seem to be super chunky too. What was the freebie pair meant to be? I remember reading a post saying that it was a trial pair for something

 

[ConnahS]

It's nice to hear a negative point of view as now all future buyers of TopBoxer won't be absolutely shocked if they have a bad experience.

 

[Taskmaster99]

Excellent review my friend. Up front and honest !!!!

 

[Jaime81]

Damn. Now I'm a little worried about my order of gloves and headgear.