Stats
Manufacturer: Top Ten
Price: 89.95 from www.Totiro-USA.com Martial Arts Safety Equipment - Home
Weight: 16oz
Type: Training/Sparring glove
Color: only comes in white and black
Composition: Leather, 16 oz bayfill padding, dual velcro enclosure
My Experience
Have you ever wanted a glove that was small like a 10~12oz glove, but with the full padding & weight of 16ounces?
Enter the Top Ten Fight Sparring Glove.
Totiro-USA is the only American distributor for Top Ten and their product line looks to be a little old. The current line of Top Ten equipment from the Canadian website is the SuperFight 3000 line. These gloves are just the "FIGHT" line; so they may be a little out of date. Nevertheless, so far they're great gloves.
The lining, the wrist (not the enclosure) and the place of manufacture may be the only drawbacks to these gloves.
First, the lining feels like nylon - like a thin pair of basketball shorts or even like parachute pants. There's also no liner over the palm of the glove, just the leather. The liner is not very cushy, but I live in San Antonio, Texas and my gym's not air conditioned - so not having to worry about a stiflingly heavy liner's actually a positive for me. It did get totally soaked, so maybe it could've wicked moisture away better; not sure it could've done all that much.
Second, The wrist is made for someone with big wrists. The cuff is made out of a thick leather and maybe some nylon or plastic - it has a different liner than the fist. If you squeeze the cuff closed, you can get a pretty tight & supportive fit, but not easy when you're gloving up solo. I think next time I may wear a wrist band to take up some space & maybe wick up some moisture.
Note: I have very small wrists so not sure this is a valid complaint against the cuff.
Third, the gloves are constructed in Pakistan. Not trying to be racist, but it's a long standing rule in the muay thai arena that gear constructed in Pakistan isn't high quality. Not sure if all Top Ten gloves are made there and I don't know how it'll affect the endurance of the glove in the long run.
Now on to the good stuff.
My favorite parts of this glove are the pocket, the fill, the shape, and the price.
The pocket is nice & narrow, which is perfect for me.
The thumb's a bit of an issue, but I usually have to break in the thumb on almost every pair I buy.
I also usually cut the leather attaching the thumb to the fist so i can shape it more easily - don't worry, i don't thumb anybody.
The leather's pretty stiff & my right hand's a lil busted up from my dog- cut it on his leash; so breaking it in today was pretty tough on my right. The left hand started breaking in nicely; but it's still going to take a little while. So far, it's great though, and assuming the leather doesn't overstretch they should fit nicely soon.
The fill of this glove is Top Ten Bayfill. It's very shock absorbent, but not "squishy". It protected my knuckles and my sparring partner nicely (though it'll be nicer on him once it's a little more broken in). It's molded perfectly around the fist without any excess & all the padding centralized where you need it over the knuckles. Contact surface was very accommodating to punching, unlike the fake "Twins" gloves I got from Title.
The end result is a shape that's very sleek; the gloves actually look smaller than my teammate's 12s, but are much more generously padded. The sleek shape really makes you work on defense, as the bulkier the glove, the more you're covered. I took a few shots I wasn't used to taking normally; which is a good thing coz competition gloves are much smaller.
I should've mentioned it before but these gloves are much cheaper than the newer Top Ten lines; that normally retail for $135+. These were down right cheap at 89.95.
Pros:
Great shape
Great protection for knuckles & partner
Good fit (will be better once I break them in)
Attractive Appearance
MUCH cheaper than other Top Ten gloves
Decent Wrist support (would be better for someone with bigger wrists)
Cons:
The liner is not very cushy
Made in Pakistan (which in muay thai gear has meant "garbage" in the past)
Think the wrist support could be better
Score:
Quality 9/10 - Jury's still out on this one, so far they're great
Value 10/10
Performance 10/10
Comfort 8/10 - Once broken in, this score will undoubtedly improve to a 9.
Conclusion
These gloves are everything I wanted.
For me, they're the perfect sparring glove- sleek enough to make me work hard on my defense, cushy enough to keep my partners & hands safe, great fill, good striking surface, and good fit.
I'll update this write-up after a breaking-in period to report on how well they hold up & how well the leather reshapes to my hand.
