The only way to improve your technique, precision, and power in boxing, is by throwing thousands of punches.
This means you need quality boxing gloves to protect your hands, as you only get one set of hands, you can’t upgrade or replace them once they are done.
In this guide, we review the best boxing gloves for heavy bag training, out of all the bag gloves we’ve tried over the years. Let’s get right into it!
Table of Contents
In a hurry? Here’re our Top Picks!
Best Overall: Hayabusa T3 Boxing Gloves
Best Protection: Title Gel World Bag Gloves
Best Puncher’s Glove: Cleto Reyes Hook Loop Training Gloves
Best Value: Fairtex Boxing Gloves BGV9
Best Premium: Winning Boxing Gloves MS500B
Best Boxing Gloves for Heavy Bag Training Reviews
Hayabusa is an MMA brand, normally I wouldn’t look at it when choosing boxing gloves, but the Hayabusa T3 really changed my mind about this brand.
These gloves although made with PU leather, are very durable. These are some of the most sleek and compact gloves that fit so snug making them almost feel like part of your body.
The 4 layer foam offers decent protection, while being quite dense, which is perfect for using on a heavy bag. Although, this may not be the most suitable if you are a complete beginner, due to the density of the foam.
My Favourite part about this glove is the Dual X closure system on the wrist, with 4 interlocking splints at the back of the hand. This provides one of the best wrist support of any gloves, it feels almost as secure as lace up gloves.
At the time of writing this review, there’re over 1,500 reviews on Amazon, with majority being positive – click here to read them.
Also check out our list of Best Boxing Gloves for Sparring for more great items like this.
PROS
- Compact profile
- Comfortable, snug fit
- Microfiber thumb great for wiping sweat
- Sleek and unique design
CONS
- Dense foam may not suit complete beginners
- Small hand compartment
Title is a great boxing brand that have been making quality boxing gloves at different price range for many years. The one I recommend is from their upper-middle range, Title Gel World Bag gloves.
Theses gloves are great for the natural heavy hitters, as their multilayer protection foam in the knuckles and the gel padding in the wrist offer some of the best protection for your hands. Especially if you are a beginner, with hands not conditioned to the impact from heavy punches yet.
The quality is top notch like a lot of Title products. Overall these are very comfortable gloves with excellent durability, as well as superior protection.
If you are a beginner or have sore knuckles, wrist from using cheap gloves, I highly recommend the Title gel world bag gloves, you will notice the difference from the first punch you throw.
At the time of writing this review, there’re over 430 reviews on Amazon, with the majority being positive – click here to read them.
Be sure to check out our list of Best BJJ Gi for Beginners, for more great items like this.
PROS
- Great knuckle and wrist protection
- Very Comfortable and good thumb placement
- Allows great fist alignment which reduces risk of injury
- Extremely durable padding
CONS
- Heavier than advertised weight
- Not the best quality inner lining fabric, takes time to air out
The Cleto Reyes has to be epitome of Mexican style boxing gloves.
Made in Mexico with the finest craftsmanship and the best quality premium leather, the Cleto Reyes gloves offer both comfort and protection. The top of the shelf 2” foam offers good knuckle support and the water repellent nylon lining keeps your hands dry while preventing the moisture entering the padding.
If you are looking for a punchers glove, this is it. This classic Mexican style glove is designed for the heavy puncher who not only want protection, but also good feedback from punching the heavy bag. The padding in these gloves are the perfect thickness, softness and firmness to offer both.
Another thing to keep in mind, is the Cleto Reyes gloves offer a wide fit being Mexican style, which means they are great if you have wider hands.
Overall, these are great quality gloves with long lasting durability, which should last you for years to come.
At the time of writing this review, there’re over 630 reviews on Amazon, with the majority being positive – click here to read them.
Be sure to check out our list of Best BJJ Rash Guards, for more great items like this.
PROS
- Very comfortable fit
- Excellent quality thick leather and craftsmanship
- Amazing durability, made to last for years to come
- Beautiful, classic Mexican style design
CONS
- May not suit beginners with unconditioned hands
Fairtex for the most part is a Muay Thai and MMA brand, most of their gloves are “Muay Thai Style”, meaning they have very short cuffs. I wouldn’t recommend Muay Thai Style gloves for boxing due to the shorter cuffs which don’t offer enough wrist protection for boxing.
However, the Fairtex BGV9 model is a Mexian style boxing glove with long cuff and wide strap for good wrist protection. These gloves are extremely durable, made with high grade leather and double stitching throughout.
One of the interesting thing about this glove is that it hast two grip bars, one on the palm area like most of boxing gloves, another one at the end of the glove for your finger tips to grip onto. You can definitely make a good fist in these gloves with decent thumb placement.
The padding is firm which will need couple of week to break in. With that said, when you make contact on the heavy bag with these glove, they give a nice pop, which I like on a bag glove.
One of the drawbacks of this glove is the long cuffs. As mentioned above, they come with longer cuffs with decent amount of padding on them to offer good wrist support. However, the cuff length is slightly too long, which somewhat restricts the movement in my opinion.
One more thing to note, if you have very large hands, these are definitely not for you, as the hand compartment of these gloves run small and tight fit.
Overall these are great gloves for bag work, especially if you can get them under $100.
At the time of writing this review, there’re over 220 reviews on Amazon, with the majority being positive – click here to read them.
For more great items like this, check out our guide to the Best Wrestling Shoes.
PROS
- Quality leather and stitching, made to last
- Crisp pop feedback when hitting heavy bags or mitts
- Top notch wrist padding
- Fingertip bar and regular palm grip bar allow great hand position
- A steal for the price
CONS
- Small hand compartment will not suit large hands
- Cuffs are a little too long which restricts wrist movement slightly
If money wasn’t a concern, and you’ve got brittle hands, or you simply just want the best protection, get the winning training boxing gloves. If there were a pair of perfect boxing gloves, the Winning gloves would be it.
These gloves are made with soft touch premium grade leather, perfect mix between soft and firm padding, high quality double stitching, comfortable fit which also allows you to make a perfect fist, compact form factor and decent wrist support.
The number of pro boxers using Winning gloves for training really speaks for its quality. Especially Floyd Money Mayweather, who is known for having brittle hands, uses Winning gloves for training despite being sponsored by Grant.
Nicknamed “pillows on your hands”, there’s no close second to the Winning gloves when it comes to hand protection.
Made with triple layered top of the shelf foam, with Japanese precision craftsmanship, these gloves are a few things in life that can be considered value for money despite the high price.
One of the reasons I have the winning gloves at the end of the list, is because they might be too expensive for most people, especially using them for heavy bag training. As hitting heavy bags wear gloves out much faster than just using them for sparring.
The second reason is for me personally, I prefer bag gloves with a bit more dense foam which gives better feedback to your punches in my opinion.
At the time of writing this review, there’re about 22 reviews on Amazon, with majority being positive – click here to read them.
Make sure to check out list of the Best Judo Gi for Beginners, for more great items like this one.
PROS
- Optimal protection
- Premium quality and durability
- Comfortable fit
- Beautiful, classic design
- Status symbol
CONS
- Pricey
What to Consider Before Buying Boxing Gloves for Heavy Bag Training?
Value
When it comes to boxing gloves, cheaper is NOT always better. As said the in the beginning of the article, you only get one pair of hands. If you are only hitting the heavy bag once in a while to lose weight, then by all means, get whatever makes you happy.
However, if you are into boxing, whether to keep fit, to be able to defend yourself, aspire to be amateur boxers or pro fighters, or simply want to get better at it because you love it. You should definitely consider buying boxing gloves that are best value for your money, which means buying the best quality boxing gloves within your budget.
Knuckle and wrist protection
Most hand injuries in boxing happens to knuckles and writs. This is because we aim to land our punches flush on our knuckles with perfectly aligned wrist behind it. Hence majority of impact is absorbed by knuckles and wrist. Of course bad punching technique is another factor we shouldn’t overlook.
Good bag gloves should offer thick enough padding on the knuckle area to protect the knuckles, it should be on slightly firmer side so you can feel the feedback from your punches, also to help conditioning your hands. Decent padding and locking system on the wrist are must for wrist support.
Comfort and fit
People tend to overlook the comfort and fit of boxing gloves, but these are vitally important when it comes to protecting your hands.
Different brand gloves offer different size hand compartment and fit, even for same weight gloves. You need to find the gloves that fit your hands snug, allowing you to make a good fist, with the thumb not in an awkward position.
Durability
This explains itself really. Durability is very important especially for bag gloves, as they will be used to throw thousands of hard punches on the heavy bag.
You want to make sure they have authentic premium quality leather (although some modern synthetic leather gloves can be very durable), top grade padding and stitching.
If you spend decent amount of your hard earned dollar on a pair of supposedly good quality gloves, they’d better last for a couple of years.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can you use sparring gloves for bag work?
Short answer: No.
You should keep your sparring gloves only for sparring for the sake of your sparring partners.
Firstly, sparring gloves are designed differently from bag gloves. They tend to have bigger, thicker and softer padding, in order to protect you and more importantly your sparring partners who you’ll try to punch in the face.
Secondly, you’ll ruin your sparring gloves by using them on a heavy bag, as the softer padding will wear out faster. Which makes them ineffective for sparring as your sparring partner will feel your knuckles through the worn out padding.
What kind of gloves should you use on a heavy bag?
You should use bag gloves that typically have dense, firm padding, good wrist support, that are designed to withstand the impact of hard punches on a heavy bag.
What’s the difference between sparring gloves and bag gloves?
As mentioned above, sparring gloves tend to have thicker, softer padding, they are designed to be more forgiving for your sparring partners on the receiving end of your punches.
Whereas bag gloves tend to have denser and firmer padding, designed to endure harsh treatment, as well as providing good feedback as you land on the heavy bag or mitts, to help you improve on the punching technique.
What size boxing gloves should I use for heavy bag training?
I personally like to use 12oz gloves for heavy bag training. As one of my main goals for bag work is to improve my punching technique, which I feel is hard to achieve with a pair of bulky 16oz gloves.
Although I do use 14oz gloves if they are more compact design, and when I want to train for shoulder endurance.
Of course if you are a heavier guy, or have brittle hands, it’s a good idea to go with 14oz or 16oz gloves.
Final Verdict
There you have it, our list of the best boxing gloves for heavy bag training. The truth is you can’t really go wrong with gloves on the list, simply pick ones that suit your budget, hand size, and your preference.
But here is the deal:
There’s more to protecting your hands than just great pair of boxing gloves.
Wrapping your hands properly with a good quality 180” Mexican style boxing hand wraps is equally as important. The Winning Knuckle Guards NG2 is also great addition when wrapping your hands if you want the extra knuckle protection.