7 Best Boxing Gloves For Beginners

Getting the perfect boxing glove on your first try can make you feel a bit like Cinderella.

You see, it’s all about the right fit, comfort, and ultimately, the hand protection to avoid many beginner wrists and thumb injuries — which are all too common.

My pick of the best boxing gloves for beginners is the Hayabusa T3. It’s a worthwhile investment considering that these gloves will help you to maintain good punching form with the stiff wrist-to-backhand Dual-X Fusion Splinting™ and avoid common newbie injuries.

But I’ve also picked out a couple of other top options that are almost as good and suit different budgets:

Getting the choice right for your first pair of boxing gloves is crucial.

You don’t want to make the same mistakes I did, spending a year using gloves with rubbish wrist support.

I’ve picked out several options below for you to consider that will avoid this.

Top choice boxing gloves for beginners

You already know my top picks for beginners, but if you want to know more details about each glove then keep scrolling as I’ve covered each in detail.

But here’s a quick summary of every glove option to consider:

• Hayabusa T3 — The best choice for overall wrist support and hand protection.
• Ringside Apex Flash — Budget pick but reliable support and padding.
• Hayabusa S4 — Hayabusa’s more affordable beginner’s glove.
• Anthem Athletics Stormbringer II — Kickboxers choice, but not the best wrist support.
• Revgear S5 All-Rounder — Great quality option for bag and pad hitters.
• Venum Elite — Great design and padding for shock absorption.
• Hayabusa H5 — Mid-range glove with Hayabusa’s great quality.

For more details about each glove and my opinions of each, keep scrolling.

Anthem Athletics Stormbringer II

The Anthem Athletics Stormbringer II’s are good beginner boxing gloves if you have limited funds to spend and expect to focus on kickboxing or Muay Thai training.

When I reviewed these gloves, I found them to have decent stability for the wrist joint but with enough bend for kickboxing styles — like catching kicks or parrying them and the clinch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrcSXAOOYP0

In my opinion, beginners want to get the most wrist stability they can. These aren’t the top choice for that requirement.

So I’d only choose these if kickboxing is your primary goal and you need to save a few bucks.

But these gloves did have a snug fit when worn, even without hand wraps, so they still felt protective.

These gloves have thick triple-density foam padding with plenty of coverage around the knuckles.

I think the padding makes them an excellent option for sparring (with a 16 oz pair) or working on the heavy bag.

Just remember that there’s some bend in the wrists on these, and if you have poor form, you’ll hurt yourself if you go too heavy on the bag.

The material is buffalo leather which feels very durable and of high quality. The matte finish makes them particularly nice to look at, too.

And finally, there’s a mesh palm that provides plenty of ventilation and a microfiber thumb that you can use to wipe sweat from your brow.

Hayabusa T3 Boxing Gloves

The T3’s from Hayabusa are often my top pick amongst boxing glove options, and for a good reason.

They have perfected the balance between advanced tech in glove development to support the hands of fighters while keeping the price in a respectable range.

If you have a little extra cash to spend, my choice for beginners is to get these gloves simply because the technology in manufacturing excels over what most other brands are doing.

They might not be the kind of glove you’ll compete in, but they are excellent training gloves from pads to bags and even sparring.

Specifically, the Dual-X strapping closure and the Fusion Splinting both assist in keeping your fist, wrist, and forearm all in perfect alignment, which has a massive impact on reducing shock.

The better the rebounding energy is dissipated, the less likely you are to have any cracks in ligaments or bones in your hands and wrists.

Beginners commonly make mistakes in keeping good form in their punches, and the Hayabusa T3 boxing gloves eradicate most of those concerns.

Ringside Apex Flash Boxing Gloves

Ringside’s Apex Flash gloves are another great pick, especially when your budget is tight.

They have that durability factor for beginner gloves, so you can expect them to last for a long while.

Ringside is also an underrated brand, and I often pick out these gloves because they are so effective for regular use.

The inside of the gloves has a layered polyester and a mesh palm that gives excellent breathability and comfort while wearing.

These gloves only have a single velcro strap, but it wraps around the wrist well to secure firmly.

I find them a perfect option as a sparring glove because the knuckles are well padded, and you can get them in 16 or 18 oz sizes to suit most weights.

But for the same reasons, they’re just as useful for the heavy bag.

Because of their price, they do make for a cheap additional pair for when you want one size for pads or the bag and another size for sparring (which I actually recommend).

Hayabusa S4 Boxing Gloves

The S4’s are Hayabusa’s entry-level gloves that use some of their renowned tech to provide great wrist support with its splinted padding.

You won’t be getting the same multi-layered padding as in Hayabusa’s other glove options, but instead, it’s using injected molded foam in a single layer.

But this still gives good impact absorption, especially for the lower price than their other models.

The padding is placed right where beginners need it most to help you keep good form and resist injury.

And they come in a range of bold color options so you can match whatever style you’re going for.

These are ideal if you plan to focus your early training on working in drills classes or on the bag, but you probably want to upgrade when it comes to sparring or when you start to train more regularly.

So if you are price sensitive and still want to get the Hayabusa experience, these might be the perfect choice as one of the best beginner boxing gloves you could pick.

Revgear S5 All-Rounder

The Revgear S5 is a great glove that labels itself the “All-Rounder,” but I’d encourage it as a glove mostly for pad work and the bag.

It’s great for beginners because it’s straightforward to slip on and off, with a decent firmness on the strap.

The strapping is mid-length, giving a little extra movement in the wrist, which makes them another suitable option for kickboxing styles.

Revgear is a reputable brand whose glove manufacturing is comparable with some of the best in the business but with a more affordable price tag.

I think these are great in the smaller sizes for pads or bag work, but you’ll need something more specialized for seriously heavy hitting or sparring.

Venum Elite Boxing Gloves 

Venum has been rising the ranks in recent years since their deal-making with the UFC, and their gear has continued to shine.

The Venum Elite is a solid boxing glove because it has a significant degree of padding that makes your punches feel like pillows.

Some like that feeling, and some might not.

They’re highly comfortable, durable, and look great.

Made in Thailand, where some of the best gloves in the world are stitched together, but they are made with synthetic leather.

Synthetic materials for gloves are usually long-lasting and hard-wearing, but they’re a very different feel from natural leather gloves.

They’re also quite lightweight despite the level of padding.

A large fighter might need something a bit more fitting with their own body weight for the right level of safety.

These gloves are a good option for beginners as you can technically use them for different kinds of training, just pick the right size.

You’ll probably want to choose them if you’re in love with the design.

Hayabusa H5

The H5s are a good option because the material is made of faux leather, making it cheaper for beginner martial artists while still getting the Hayabusa quality.

It’s a good glove for beginners because of the five layers of knuckle padding and two-layer splinting across the backhand, which adds extra stability.

There’s also the adjustable stretch strap that allows you to get an extra inch of secure fitting around the wrist, helping you keep your hands in safe alignment for training.

It’s a little more expensive than the S4 and is usually targeted at intermediates, but it’s a reliable glove that can adapt to different training styles.

I also think the color options make it a glove suitable for both men and women with different tastes.

Buying considerations of boxing gloves for beginners

If you need more help making your choice, I’ve got your back, Jack.

Your first time buying a pair of gloves can be confusing as heck, but the advice below should cover every doubt to make it easier.

Understand what glove sizes mean

Choosing a glove size for your first pair is very frustrating, I remember it all too well. I had no idea, and just picked the first pair of gloves I saw.

But since you are reading this, you’ll be one step ahead with my advice.

Gloves come in many sizes, and are differentiated in ounces, e.g. “14 oz.” But boxing gloves can range in sizes, and the most common are 8 oz up to 18 oz.

“Glove Size” = measured in ounces.

Boxing gloves can even go as high as 24 oz, but that’s only worth considering if you’re a large Heavyweight with big hands.

The glove sizes change every 2 ounces. Because there wouldn’t be much benefit to new sizing of a lesser amount than that.

For example; 8 oz, 10 oz, 12 oz, 14 oz, 16 oz, and so on.

So how do you know which one to pick? That’s up next.

Picking the right glove size

The glove size you choose is best selected by considering three factors:

• Your body weight
• Your hand circumference
• What purpose you want to use the gloves for

For the most part, body weight and hand circumference go hand-in-hand.

Or body-in-hand, or something like that.

Your body weight usually has a relation to how big your hands are, and the glove size to choose from.

So to keep this simpler, I won’t go into much detail about hand circumference measuring – as you likely won’t need to worry about it.

But you can learn more about how boxing gloves should fit if you want to know!

Body weight is largely the most influential factor in choosing a glove size because your weight changes how much power you can punch with and so the amount of padding you need.

Then the purpose of using your boxing gloves also plays the next important role in choosing, which on the whole, comes down to whether or not you want gloves for sparring.

You see, in most reputable gyms, you need to wear boxing gloves of at least 16 oz for sparring.

That covers body weights anywhere from 115 lbs up to 240 lbs. Heavier than that, 18 oz gloves are a good idea.

But if you only intend to use your boxing gloves for pad work/mitts or the heavy bag, you can go lower than 16 oz.

Just remember that the heavier the glove weight, the likelihood of more padding.

But also know that the heavier the glove weight, the larger it might be overall, which could create unnecessary ‘dead space’ inside the glove.

‘Dead space’ = air pockets inside the glove when worn that can cause hand injuries.

If your hands are particularly smaller, then make sure you try them on and get a snug fit.

Boxing glove size chart for beginners

This sizing guide gives a good idea of what size glove you should pick:

Bodyweight	Glove Size	Glove Size (Sparring)
110-140 lbs	8-12 oz	16 oz
140-165 lbs	10-12 oz	16 oz
165-190 lbs	10-14 oz	16 oz
190-215 lbs	12-14 oz	16 oz
215-240 lbs	12-16 oz	16 oz
240-270 lbs	14-16 oz	18 oz
270 lbs +	16-24 oz	18-24 oz

As you can see, all body weights from 110-240lbs should consider at least 16 oz for sparring.

But for other uses like general training on the pads with a coach, you can choose a glove size much smaller in weight for better accuracy or speed training.

For the heavy bag, you still should consider a little extra glove weight so you can benefit from extra padding.

But never at the expense of dead space inside the glove, which defeats the purpose of extra padding.

So let’s say you’re similar to me and weigh around 150 lbs.

For speed/accuracy on the pads, I benefit best from a glove size of around 12 oz. I usually don’t go any smaller than that.

For the heavy bag, a glove around 14 oz might be better just for that extra padding in those power shots.

A heavy bag gives it back as hard as it gets. You take the rebound force into your hands, so be careful.

And for sparring, 16 oz is the ideal glove size for me.

Final say on beginner boxing gloves

So there you have it, that’s our master list of good boxing gloves for beginners.

You should have a couple of great options that are the best fit for your needs, but any choice from this list you choose, you can’t go wrong.

What to read next

Picked out the perfect gloves yet? These next articles might be exactly what you want to know about next:

• How To Get Into Boxing
• The Ultimate Beginners Guide To Boxing
• How To Block A Punch