Overview: Made in China for Canadian based company Rival Boxing. 100% full grain leather. Mine are blue and 18 ounces, but they are also available in red and in black, 12, 14 and 16 ounces (16oz currently out of stock on the main rival site). $115CDN +tax and shipping, I think they cost a bit less on ringside or title (more on that later).
Before these I did all my sparring with 16oz gloves. Even though they are heavier I haven't noticed a difference in terms of punch speed, or my arms getting tired quicker or anything. I'm very happy with them. Can't talk about durability yet because I just got them, but I and others at my gym have owned Rival products before and they hold up really well.
Pros:
Nice, tight hand compartment...for me. I always have extra padding in my handwraps because I've had some hand injuries. The gloves I had used before I got these always had room to move my hand around inside even with my giant wraps. These ones are nice and snug and feel much more comfortable. They'd be a little bit looser for people who just use regular wraps obviously, but still better than any other glove I've tried (which admittedly isn't many).
Thumb protection. Your thumb is tucked right into the side of the palm and doesn't stick out any like on other gloves. I jammed my thumbs several times in previous gloves, but the risk of doing that in these is greatly reduced. You can really see this in the first three pictures below.
"Ergo Strap System". Instead of the standard one strap of velcro running horizontally one direction across the bottom of the glove, these gloves have two straps that run diagonally and attach on top of each other. It provides more wrist support, which is even further increased by the cuff being longer than other gloves I've used.
Also, it isn't a major factor when I'm selecting gloves, but they look extremely nice too.
![Image]()
Cons:
Cost. Priced at $115, when you add shipping (Rival only offers two day priority shipping so that's $20) and tax it came to $142. I would normally never spend that much of my own earned money on gloves, but I had some Christmas money so I treated myself.
![Image]()
Also, ordering gloves from Ringside or Title isn't really an option up here in Canada because everything ends up costing double when you add shipping and especially the customs fees. I would have liked to get a pair of Ringside IMF gloves for like $80, but nowhere carries them in Canada, and they'd end up costing $160 if I ordered from the US.
"Ergo Strap System" provides much more support for the wrist, but you need to have someone else do one of them up for you because it's too difficult to do with a glove on your hand. Not a big deal, but it's a minor hassle compared to regular gloves you can do up yourself.
On to the pictures.
They look gigantic in this picture, but they aren't that big.
![Image]()
Note the thumb protection. It's tucked in nice, and they even have a little extra ridge of protection that covers it up.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Ergo strap system fully opened.
![Image]()
First strap done up.
![Image]()
Second strap closes on top of the first one.
![Image]()
Feel free to ask any questions.
I've got headgear from Rival that I'll make a review for tomorrow. I also have a pair of bag gloves from them that I got a month ago, but because I have an injured knuckle right now (it got injured using older worn out gloves which prompted me to buy new ones) I haven't been able to really give them any good hard rounds on the heavybag yet.
![Image]()
Before these I did all my sparring with 16oz gloves. Even though they are heavier I haven't noticed a difference in terms of punch speed, or my arms getting tired quicker or anything. I'm very happy with them. Can't talk about durability yet because I just got them, but I and others at my gym have owned Rival products before and they hold up really well.
Pros:
Nice, tight hand compartment...for me. I always have extra padding in my handwraps because I've had some hand injuries. The gloves I had used before I got these always had room to move my hand around inside even with my giant wraps. These ones are nice and snug and feel much more comfortable. They'd be a little bit looser for people who just use regular wraps obviously, but still better than any other glove I've tried (which admittedly isn't many).
Thumb protection. Your thumb is tucked right into the side of the palm and doesn't stick out any like on other gloves. I jammed my thumbs several times in previous gloves, but the risk of doing that in these is greatly reduced. You can really see this in the first three pictures below.
"Ergo Strap System". Instead of the standard one strap of velcro running horizontally one direction across the bottom of the glove, these gloves have two straps that run diagonally and attach on top of each other. It provides more wrist support, which is even further increased by the cuff being longer than other gloves I've used.
Also, it isn't a major factor when I'm selecting gloves, but they look extremely nice too.
Cons:
Cost. Priced at $115, when you add shipping (Rival only offers two day priority shipping so that's $20) and tax it came to $142. I would normally never spend that much of my own earned money on gloves, but I had some Christmas money so I treated myself.
Also, ordering gloves from Ringside or Title isn't really an option up here in Canada because everything ends up costing double when you add shipping and especially the customs fees. I would have liked to get a pair of Ringside IMF gloves for like $80, but nowhere carries them in Canada, and they'd end up costing $160 if I ordered from the US.
"Ergo Strap System" provides much more support for the wrist, but you need to have someone else do one of them up for you because it's too difficult to do with a glove on your hand. Not a big deal, but it's a minor hassle compared to regular gloves you can do up yourself.
On to the pictures.
They look gigantic in this picture, but they aren't that big.
Note the thumb protection. It's tucked in nice, and they even have a little extra ridge of protection that covers it up.
Ergo strap system fully opened.
First strap done up.
Second strap closes on top of the first one.
Feel free to ask any questions.
I've got headgear from Rival that I'll make a review for tomorrow. I also have a pair of bag gloves from them that I got a month ago, but because I have an injured knuckle right now (it got injured using older worn out gloves which prompted me to buy new ones) I haven't been able to really give them any good hard rounds on the heavybag yet.
