Boxing Gloves through the Years
Wearing boxing gloves means a whole lot more than making a person feel like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, or even Manny Pacquiao. But aside from the fans having it autographed from their favorite boxers or being a souvenir, what does it signify or symbolize for a boxer? These boxing gloves symbolize the fighter’s meaning for fighting. Inside the four corners of a boxing ring, a person cannot fight without any boxing gloves on, therefore rendering the reason for fighting useless. These very gloves are a sign that a boxer does not want to fully hurt or cause damage to his opponent, further emphasizing that they only fight for the love of the sport itself.
If we are to derive its meaning from a dictionary, boxing gloves are cushioned and stuffed gloves that boxers or fighters wear on their hands during their matches and bouts. These gloves were developed to protect the person’s hands while fighting inside the ring; although the ones used for training or sparring is different from the ones that professional boxers use to bout with inside the ring. Fighting without any gloves on would definitely leave painful bruises and scars on a person’s knuckles, especially when throwing out punches directed to a person’s face. Surely, no one would want that; hence, these boxing gloves were invented.
Boxing gloves trace its roots back to Ancient Greece where the people there felt the need to make or create something that would protect their hands while fighting or boxing. However, this differed from the boxing that we know today. Going back to Ancient Greece, it was customary for them to wrap leather straps around their arms for protection and this led to the development of the gladiator’s cestus during the Roman times, which is the same leather glove — but with the addition of metal, to further inflict damage and pain. During the seventeenth century in Britain, boxing experienced a revival and a lot of fights were held without the use of such gloves. But consequently, fighting without having any gloves on or the so-called bare knuckle fights was questioned as to its legality. Boxers and fans alike credit the development of the modern boxing gloves to Jack Broughton, who developed a similar apparatus during the nineteenth century.
There are different types, styles, and weights of boxing gloves. Speed gloves, as the name implies, are those that are lightweight and are specifically designed to protect the boxer’s hands while doing very light bag work on a stand-mounted speed bag. Another type is called the bag gloves which are recommended by professionals for all types of boxing training. Sparring gloves are those that are used in sparring or practice sessions. And lastly, the professional fight gloves are the ones that the athletes use to fight with inside the ring. All of these boxing gloves are worn over hand wraps which are added protection for the hands, especially the knuckles and fingers.
While it is an established fact that boxing gloves reduce the injuries that a boxer can cause on his hands, it is not scientifically proven that it can also lessen the damage that a person can inflict upon another person. The impact of such gloves on the injuries that are caused after a fight is always a controversial issue in modern times since during the bare-knuckle boxing era, hitting a person in the head was less common since doing so without gloves would definitely ruin a person’s hand. Hence, fighters wearing boxing gloves are more likely to punch another person in the head and with much more power too. Today in modern times, this is enough proof that boxing is not for the faint of heart and it shows that cowards can never step inside the four corners of a boxing ring.
