Getting the right pair of sparring gloves which are a comfortable fit and can offer you the protection that you need without any unnecessary restrictions is very important. Generally your choice of gloves will depend largely on what kind of combat sport or martial art that you practice as well as what kind of thraining you want to use them for. If you want a pair of gloves for sparring in a boxing class, for example, then what you should be looking for is very different to the things you should be looking for in a pair of sparring gloves to use in an MMA (mixed martial arts) training session.

This hubpage is a guide to the different kinds of sparring loves available to help you to make the right choice, alongside links that you can follow to get a quality set for the best price around.

If your planning on using them for boxing, kickboxing or any other martial arts training session where you are just engaging in striking such as punches and kicks and are not going to do any throws or other grappling then standard boxing gloves are almost certainly your best bet. Generally there are 3 'weights' - 12 oz. 14 oz. and 16 oz. The weight refers to the size of the glove and therefore the amount of padding which they provide for you, so for your sparring the best ones to get are the ones with the maximum protecive padding to prevent injury to yourself or your opponent, which are the 16 oz. ones. My personal recommendation would be to go for the Everlast brand which are amongst the best quality available but can still be bought for a very reasonable price (see the amazon link to the right of this text).

 If you are going to be using them for mixed martial arts, jiu jitsu or any other martial art which includes throws, submission holds and other grappling alongside striking then you will need a pair of open palm gloves, such as the sparring mits highlighted to the right which are my recommendation for the best quality and value for money. These sparring mits offer more protection that the fingerless fight gloves used in mixed martial arts competitions, but still allow the freedom to grab hold of your opponent, which is necessary if you want to get involved in a grappling contest.

Whatever kind of gloves you choose to go with you really should get some decent quality hand wraps to go with them. Basically these go on under the glove, tight on the hand, and as well as providing extra padding they also prevent the knuckles from rubbing on the inside of the glove and breaking the skin.

The traditional material wraps do still work pretty well, but if you want the very best then everlast produce a set of gel hand wrap 'undergloves' which are much quicker to put on and take off, as well as offering slightly better protection and comfort for the hands.

 Don't make the mistake of buying bag gloves when you actually want the them for sparring, or on the other hand buying sparring gloves when you actually want to use them for training on punching bags. Bag gloves are basically halfway between the 16oz. boxing and the open palm mits. You get complete protective covering for the fingers to make sure that you don't hurt them, which isn't the case with the mits, but you still get an open palm to allow air in, making them less sweaty and more comfortable to wear during your training.