Top king empower creativity – 14oz – air and non air versions. Sup guys! Let me start this by saying I’m sorry for my english, I’m brazilian so it’s not my native language. This is my first post here, tho I’ve been lurking the foruns for a long long time. A little intro about me (just skip this and go to the review if not interested). I train Muay Thai and boxing at “ChuteBoxe Diego Lima” here in Brazil (we have 4 guys on UFC right now). I’m a gear whore, love collecting/testing gear (specially gloves) and reading reviews online. A lot of reviews from sherdog guys like strato and minow have helped me a lot, so I’ve decided to start making my own reviews too. On to the review: Construction: Top notch, on both gloves. Stitching is on point. The Leather is good, not as thick as my Cleto reyes or my Fairtex gloves, but is decent. Better than Twins leather. The Padding is on the soft side, but do not bottom out (padding differs greatly from my friends top king "superstar glove", wich is a lot denser). The outer layers are soft and the inner layers are more dense, so theres a nice “progressive” feeling. Feels very protective. Not as dense as a Fairtex (I personally hate the padding on the BGV1), but not as “pillowy” like on a Twins. Right there on the middle, these make awesome sparring gloves. The palm side of the glove is also padded, wich is goog for parrying. Lining does a good job on keeping your hands dry, and is very smooth. Fit: Very, very snug. And I have small hands. Guys with bigger hands will suffer, don’t get anything smaller than 16oz. The gloves look big on the outside, but the hand compartment is very small. It’s the smallest hand comparment of all my gloves, smaller than my 10 oz hayabusa tokushus. It was uncomfortable to be honest, but they feel good after they break in (if you have small hands). Wrist protection is very good. I can’t bend my wrist backwards at all. Can bend a little inwards, but that’s good for clinches. Performance: Compared to other thai gloves, these have long cuff. They feel lighter because they are not top heavy (like most thai gloves). Feels more like a boxing glove than a thai glove. I love it, makes me feel faster. Air vs non Air: The mesh looks durable, but I don’t use it when training clinches. (I use the non air for that). The difference between the 2 is not that noticeable to be honest, so, if you want to get one of these, get the full leather one, looks better and should* last longer. Conclusion: I did my first review on the top kings because they are one of my favourite gloves ever. I have twins, fairtex, tokushus, Ringsides, cleto reyes, pretorians, venums etc, but the top kings are the ones I always go back to. Awesome sparring gloves. I’ll be making reviews on the other gloves too, and also planning to make a video review. Positives: + good construction + good wrist support + great padding, both for your hands and for partners face. + cheap compared to a top of the line ringside or cletos +/- Very small hand compartment, feels like a 10oz glove - The mesh on the air version don’t do that much of a difference - Leather is good, but not as good as cleto or fairtex - Big gloves, the 14oz look like a 16oz, hard to sneak those shots through opponets guard. Other top king models are smaller, like the superstar. Hope this review helps. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. Also, if you have any tips or criticism, let me know so I can improve on my next reviews! Thank you! SIZE COMPARISSON (ALL 14OZ)
Congrats on your first review! Very informative and nice comparison photos! This is very good for people like me who needs to order things online. Can't wait for more of your reviews! Cheers!
Thank you very much for this review , you helped me so much !! i currently looking for new pair , and i considering top king superstar (love the design ) and boon . right now i have twins and couple question, do the twins have better wrist support? from what i understand from you the twins less snug then top king ( after break in), and generally which brand you more like ? thank you very much for the answers and sorry for the bad english !! .
Detailed review, kudos. Your English is perfect, too. Do you like or notice the curved grip bar much?
Excellent review!!!!! Loving those Empowers!!!!! If Top King didn't feel like an anaconda squeezing the life outta my hand...I would go for them.
Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked it man! Hey man, the top king is a lot snugier than the twins. The wrist support is better on the top king because of the longer cuff and more wrist padding. You can bend your wrist inwards a lot more with the twins (backwards is the same tho). That being said, i love twins too. But the top king feels more "balanced". I'm working on getting a pair of boons too (and windys) so i can compare the major thai brands, hear they are pretty good too. I don't notice much, but if i'm really picky, i'd say i prefer the regular one, like the one on the twins. The curved one on the top kings sits closer to the tip of my fingers when i make a fist, so it feels a little wierd at first. May be better for people with long fingers. LOL I feel you man, i have really small hands (as i can't use most 16oz gloves without them slipping out of my hands) and they squeeze my hands. Can't see anyone with larger hands using this, they should make a plus size hand compartment as an option, at least on the 16oz.
Thanks man!! currently we have these guys in the UFC: http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Charles-Oliveira-30300 http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Felipe-Arantes-31372 http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Lucas-Martins-100031 and this guy is very close (keep an eye on him, really really good fighter, (no losses and only one of his fights went to the second round) will fight for the legacy belt on june 20th) http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Thomas-Almeida-87865
