The goal in boxing is to hit your opponent with hard punches and to avoid those same punches that your opponent throws at you. Training for boxing involves a heavy dose of conditioning that is designed to give you the quickness and endurance to hold your form effectively over the course of a grueling fight. Boxers also use bag gloves and oversized gloves to hit the speed bag, heavy bag and to spar with opponents.
Bag Gloves
Fighters wear bag gloves when they hit the speed bag. The goal when hitting the speed bag is to develop a sharp and accurate left jab (for right-handed boxers). While a fighter may use 12- or 14-oz. gloves during the course of boxing match, he uses lighter gloves -- 8 to 10 oz. -- when punching the speed bag. You need to get a feel for hitting the lighter bag, and heavier gloves would prevent that from happening.
Heavy-Bag Gloves
Boxers use lighter gloves when training with the speed bag, double-end bag or heavy bag, but the heavy-bag gloves are usually a bit bigger than the speed-bag gloves. The heavy bag often weighs between 75 and 90 lbs. and provides significant resistance when you hit it. Bag gloves that are 10 to 12 oz. will protect your hands a bit more than the bags used on the speed bag.
Focus Mitts
Focus mitts are worn by a boxing coach, trainer or a partner when you are in the ring during a training session. They are 10 to 12 oz. and look similar to a catcher's mitt in baseball. In most cases, the trainer wears the focus mitts to provide a target for the boxer's punches. The trainer will move the focus mitts after every punch to make you change your angle of attack. Focus mitts help you learn to punch accurately and quickly.
Sparring Gloves
You won't know where you stand in boxing until you wear your head gear and gloves and spar with an opponent of similar size and experience. Many factors will run through your mind when you step in the ring, and one of those is fear. Sparring helps you get used to being in the ring against an opponent who wants to hit you with hard punches. Sparring gloves are usually padded 16-oz. gloves that will protect your hands if you don't deliver the punch squarely, and the extra padding will also protect your opponent to some degree.
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