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In my mind these are the top three most popular Muay Thai boxing glove brands. I want to give a quick review of the following, which I own:
Top King Super Star 16oz
Twins Special 160z
Fairtex Breathable 16oz
NOTE: I took pictures in the order of glove length but this thing isn't letting me insert them when I click on the insert image icon. I will list the gloves in the order I bought them.
TWINS SPECIAL black with silver dragon emblem 16oz
The first real pair of gloves I purchased were the Twins Specials. Before that I had the typical, crappy Everlasts that "lasted" the exact time between purchase, subsequent evening purchase of real gloves (Twins) online, and the time it took the Twins to get to me from Thailand. Yes Everlasts suck that bad.
I loved the look and feel of the Twins when they arrived. I have relatively big hands (8.5 inches bottom of palm to finger tip, and a little over 4 inches wide) so the roominess of the Twins were welcome. I enjoyed them in sparring, but ran into issues with the bag as they seemed a bit too bulky to the point of tweaking my wrist. There is not a lot of support in the wrist area, but for somebody who has big hands and likes extra room to fit even a quick gel-wrap, Twins are great for sparring.
My main gripe with them is the build quality on the left glove. For some reason my left index finger protrudes above the finger bar/reenforcement inside the glove. This has caused the leather to stretch to a point where I think in time my finger could bust out through the leather. It's not too big of a deal but it bothers me somewhat. That and I noticed the excess stitching inside was bundled up and felt weird at first.
Not pictured are a pair of Title Gel gloves I bought for the bag, they must weigh about 22oz (it doesn't say) they are great for saving your knuckles as my middle knuckle sticks out and can cause a bit of pain after awhile. This seems to happen more often when I wrap my hands with the wraps going crossing between fingers as opposed to just wrapping the wrist and knuckles alone. I did not notice any of the protruding finger problems with these and that led me to believe the Twins may have been an anomaly.
FAIRTEX breathable, black 16oz
I heard great things about Fairtex so I ordered a pair of the breathable ones that I was going to use for all purpose gloves. The quality and feel is fantastic, slightly more noticeable than the Twins. The finger bar inside is rubbery and feels great. These suckers were really compact though. And by compact I mean small in size not tight. They really do feel fantastic, but do not offer the best protection for a sparring partner. I used them in a smoker once and due to the compact size it was difficult to perform proper peek a boo blocks when shelling up. That being said I use them strictly for the bag and pads now and they work great; really good, satisfying pop to them.
TOP KINGS Super Star white/gray 16oz
I love the look of these things and had heard they are great for sparring since they have extra padding on the knuckle and great wrist support and protection. I just got them two days ago. My first reaction: These things look sweet and are lightweight!!! I then tried them on... Holy shi* these suckers were tight! I mean really tight. I decided to wear them around the house to break them in. The muscle just below my right thumb was kind of aching from the thick stitching. I think they will make great sparring gloves, but they definitely need some time to break in. For hitting the bag and pads they offer great wrist and knuckle stability and protection, respectively. But, personally I think they make better sparring gloves. I will try and update once I broke them in.
VERDICT in order of importance to me:
TWINS
Comfort: 9/10
Quality: 8/10
Sparring: 8/10
Bag and pad work: 7/10
Look: 9/10
FAIRTEX
Comfort: 9/10
Quality: 9/10
Sparring: 7/10
Bag and pad work: 9/10
Look: 7/10
TOP KING
Comfort: 7/10 (likely an 8 or 9 when broken in)
Quality: 8/10
Sparring: 9/10
Bag and pad work: 8/10
Look: 8/10
In the next few years I plan to buy more gloves of course. The following are what I am interested in getting, any insight would help. Focus is on sparring since my Fairtex's will last a while and I will just cycle other gloves through once they start breaking down:
Any Fairtex dedicated sparring glove
Yakkao
Top Ten (very interested in the Bayfill material. I have the head gear with Bayflex and it's fantastic
Windy
Boon
Top King Super Star 16oz
Twins Special 160z
Fairtex Breathable 16oz
NOTE: I took pictures in the order of glove length but this thing isn't letting me insert them when I click on the insert image icon. I will list the gloves in the order I bought them.
TWINS SPECIAL black with silver dragon emblem 16oz
The first real pair of gloves I purchased were the Twins Specials. Before that I had the typical, crappy Everlasts that "lasted" the exact time between purchase, subsequent evening purchase of real gloves (Twins) online, and the time it took the Twins to get to me from Thailand. Yes Everlasts suck that bad.
I loved the look and feel of the Twins when they arrived. I have relatively big hands (8.5 inches bottom of palm to finger tip, and a little over 4 inches wide) so the roominess of the Twins were welcome. I enjoyed them in sparring, but ran into issues with the bag as they seemed a bit too bulky to the point of tweaking my wrist. There is not a lot of support in the wrist area, but for somebody who has big hands and likes extra room to fit even a quick gel-wrap, Twins are great for sparring.
My main gripe with them is the build quality on the left glove. For some reason my left index finger protrudes above the finger bar/reenforcement inside the glove. This has caused the leather to stretch to a point where I think in time my finger could bust out through the leather. It's not too big of a deal but it bothers me somewhat. That and I noticed the excess stitching inside was bundled up and felt weird at first.
Not pictured are a pair of Title Gel gloves I bought for the bag, they must weigh about 22oz (it doesn't say) they are great for saving your knuckles as my middle knuckle sticks out and can cause a bit of pain after awhile. This seems to happen more often when I wrap my hands with the wraps going crossing between fingers as opposed to just wrapping the wrist and knuckles alone. I did not notice any of the protruding finger problems with these and that led me to believe the Twins may have been an anomaly.
FAIRTEX breathable, black 16oz
I heard great things about Fairtex so I ordered a pair of the breathable ones that I was going to use for all purpose gloves. The quality and feel is fantastic, slightly more noticeable than the Twins. The finger bar inside is rubbery and feels great. These suckers were really compact though. And by compact I mean small in size not tight. They really do feel fantastic, but do not offer the best protection for a sparring partner. I used them in a smoker once and due to the compact size it was difficult to perform proper peek a boo blocks when shelling up. That being said I use them strictly for the bag and pads now and they work great; really good, satisfying pop to them.
TOP KINGS Super Star white/gray 16oz
I love the look of these things and had heard they are great for sparring since they have extra padding on the knuckle and great wrist support and protection. I just got them two days ago. My first reaction: These things look sweet and are lightweight!!! I then tried them on... Holy shi* these suckers were tight! I mean really tight. I decided to wear them around the house to break them in. The muscle just below my right thumb was kind of aching from the thick stitching. I think they will make great sparring gloves, but they definitely need some time to break in. For hitting the bag and pads they offer great wrist and knuckle stability and protection, respectively. But, personally I think they make better sparring gloves. I will try and update once I broke them in.
VERDICT in order of importance to me:
TWINS
Comfort: 9/10
Quality: 8/10
Sparring: 8/10
Bag and pad work: 7/10
Look: 9/10
FAIRTEX
Comfort: 9/10
Quality: 9/10
Sparring: 7/10
Bag and pad work: 9/10
Look: 7/10
TOP KING
Comfort: 7/10 (likely an 8 or 9 when broken in)
Quality: 8/10
Sparring: 9/10
Bag and pad work: 8/10
Look: 8/10
In the next few years I plan to buy more gloves of course. The following are what I am interested in getting, any insight would help. Focus is on sparring since my Fairtex's will last a while and I will just cycle other gloves through once they start breaking down:
Any Fairtex dedicated sparring glove
Yakkao
Top Ten (very interested in the Bayfill material. I have the head gear with Bayflex and it's fantastic
Windy
Boon
