If you’re considering whether Anthem Athletic’s Stormbringer II are the right boxing gloves for you, then you’re in the right place.
In this Anthem Athletics boxing gloves review, I’ll lay down whether you should bother getting them for yourself.
I’m testing the Stormbringer II, which is an evolution from the original model.
Let’s get on to the review!
Table of Contents
My first impressions (video review)
If you’re not in the mood for light reading, you might want to watch my first impressions of the Anthem Athletics Stormbringer II in the video below.
Continue reading if you want to get even more detail about my thoughts and considerations while checking out the gloves.
My review of the Anthem Athletics boxing gloves
Let’s crack on with my personal review having tried out these gloves.
Quick summary
I’m reviewing the Anthem Athletics Stormbringer II in a friendly matte-black style called Stealth Gunmetal.
The glove size I’m trying out is 16 oz, which is significant for my hand and wrist size.
Keep in mind the size I’m reviewing with my thoughts and opinions.
The gloves could fit differently for you than me and change what training purposes they are most useful for.
Things to know about this review
There are a few things you should know first about this review:
- Anthem Athletics sponsors this review. They kindly sent me a pair of Stormbringer II gloves to be able to create this review.
- I’m reviewing the 16 oz gloves. That’s the biggest size I can use based on my weight and hand size. Keep in mind that your hand size could be very different from mine. These gloves can also come in 12 oz and 14 oz, depending on stock availability.
- The style I am reviewing is the Stealth Gunmetal color. There are lots of other styles available, depending on stock.
Let’s get on with this review. Firstly let’s talk about the materials.
The Buffalo leather materials
The gloves are made with 100% Buffalo Leather. At first, I didn’t know very much about this kind of leather and whether it was good, but I did some research.
According to Buffalo Collection, Buffalo leather is “one of the strongest upholstery materials known to man.”
It is a versatile material that offers an unparalleled softness for a hide material and yet is strong and durable enough to last for a very long time.
The thickness of buffalo leather is up to three times more than typical cowhide, and up to an inch of widely-spaced sub-dermal collagen fibers ensures its strength and flexibility.
From fondling the gloves for a while, I can say they have an exceptionally soft exterior. This real leather doesn’t feel shiny or frictionless. It wrinkles up nicely if you squeeze it together.
After regular use, it seems like they will deflect sweat better than a shiny-material glove would. In my experience, gloves with a gleaming surface usually feel like punching with a water ball.
Shiny gloves and water don’t go so well together because your punches can slip off your target easier, which has the potential for extra injuries to your wrists. Which I am not a fan of one bit.
But the Stormbringer II gloves don’t feel like that. The buffalo leather is very breathable, and it actually absorbs moisture and releases it evenly, just like human skin.
The only concern I had was whether the matte-like leather would be easier to crack and break over time. Possibly when used repeatedly in bag work that has cracks itself. But I haven’t tested them long enough to find out yet.
Features and strapping of the gloves
The gloves have the classic Anthem Athletics logo on the back of the gloves on both the back of the hand and across the wrist strap.
The sizing tag hangs off just underneath the strap.
On the palm side of the gloves, there is a breathable mesh. This extra area helps give a bit of additional flexibility around the palm, which helps with martial arts like Muay Thai when you need to catch kicks, parry, etc.
The gloves have a connector between the finger and thumb enclosures, which is a pretty standard part of gloves these days.
Under the fingers lies a pretty sturdy grip bar which I like. It helps to squeeze your fist down in a more natural way to reduce any space between parts of your hand. It’s always the space between your bones (when making a fist) that causes a problem.
You want to be able to squeeze your fist together tightly when throwing a punch to deliver the maximum energy and stability, so you don’t injure the small bones or ligaments in your hand.
There is particular wrist support added to the back of the gloves that spreads across where the wrist meets the back of the hand.
At first, it seems that there is plenty of bend in the wrists of the gloves, but when putting them on, the wrist support feels more apparent and sturdy.
The gloves bending at the wrist is a classic sign of being suitable as Kickboxing or Muay Thai gloves.
These gloves are marketed as suitable for boxing and Muay Thai, and after having played with them for a bit, they appear to be most ideal for Thai boxing and Kickboxing styles.
The additional wrist support and ability to open your hand make them versatile for arts using eight limbs.
Foam padding inside the gloves
The padding in these gloves feels like a lot, so you’re not getting shortchanged here. I was immediately confident that it would protect my hands across the fist.
While my review gloves are 16 oz, and the padding is likely to be thicker than its smaller sizes, it’s clear that Anthem has paid close attention to providing adequate internal foam across the knuckles.
I can squeeze the front padding of the knuckles tightly and barely make an impact as the foam resizes to its original shape quickly.
Because of that, I think these gloves would be perfect to use in sparring in the 16 oz size. It’s essential to respect your opponents and wear appropriate gloves, like ones with adequate padding around the punch.
Plenty of fighters wear smaller glove sizes if they can get away with it or those shiny-and-wet, annoying gloves. You don’t want to be another of those guys, so these Stormbringer’s seem to do the trick.
Placing fingers into the ends of the glove compartment feels very snug and well padded on the top of the fingers.
I must get my fingers right into the pockets for them, and not all gloves do this very well. If