# Boxing Gloves **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 17, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-gloves/641298 "2012-11-17T11:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-gloves/641298/1 "2012-11-17T11:04:52Z")
To clear up some confusion seen in [this thread about the ‘Kid Gloves’ phrase.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=129742) Boxing gloves were intended to protect the face of the boxer being hit, not the hands of the boxer throwing the punch. The gloves spread the impact of a punch over a greater area and reduce the incidence of broken facial bones and cuts. They don’t do much to protect the brain of a boxer being hit because they allow the puncher to hit with more force without breaking the bones in his hand. In effect they do protect the hands of the boxer, but that was not their intent. I can understand the confusion because even the wiki article on [boxing gloves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing_glove)makes this same mis-statement, confusing the intent with the actual effect. But wiki redeems itself in this article about [Jack Broughton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Broughton)who introduced modern boxing gloves in training: > [@The above mentioned article](#): > > Broughton also was the inventor of the first boxing gloves, called “muffles”, which were used in his boxing academy by his students to "effectually secure them from the inconveniency of black eyes, broken jaws and bloody noses…” ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-gloves/641298/2 "2012-11-19T01:23:05Z")
Here’s what I intended to post in this thread but it got posted in the cited thread. > [@](#): > > Has anybody in this discussion ever actually been in a boxing ring and/or a street fight? > > One thing that is missing from the discussion is the size of the gloves. Boxers sparring in the gym use 12 or 16 oz. gloves and hand wraps as that does soften the blow to the opponent while protecting the hands. In an actual fight they use 8 oz. gloves and hand wraps. A punch that lands with an 8 oz. glove protects the boxer’s hand but has the force that any bare fist would have. Still, broken hands in fights are not uncommon. To boxing trainers the wrapping of the hands is a science. The referee has to examine the wrap before the fight and sign it with a pen. > > Throw a punch to someone’s head in a street fight and you will probably sustain a fractured knuckle, a “boxer’s knuckle”, if not a worse fracture to the wrist. In a street fight if you throw a punch it should be to the liver. You might not break your hand and most guys are not well developed in the abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-gloves/641298/3 "2012-11-19T16:13:20Z")
I liken boxing gloves to football pads. People from England and such all too often say, “American football is a sissy game, they wear all those pads so they won’t get hurt! Rugby is a real sport!” I respond with, “You misunderstand why they wear pads. Helmets and shoulder pads allow football players to hit each other _harder_. Just like boxing; boxing gloves aren’t there to protect the hands, they’re worn to give the boxers a heavier weapon to hit with.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxing-gloves/641298/4 "2012-11-19T16:28:30Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > Here’s what I intended to post in this thread but it got posted in the cited thread. There’s no doubt the effect of gloves is to allow punchers to hit harder without damaging their hands. Training gloves demonstrate this. They need much more padding to protect boxers in training, including protecting the hands. Boxers train to punch hard enough to injure their hands even while taped and gloved in matches. Most of the tape is used to wrap the hand tight so that bones don’t seperate at the knuckle. They’re not allowed to have too much cloth or tape over the knuckles because it increases how hard a boxer can hit. There have been many scandals over the years involving tampering with gloves and taping. Jack Dempsey’s hands were alleged to be coated in plaster in his victory over Jess Willard, something recently duplicated by boxer Antonio Margarito. In case about 20 years ago trainer Panama Lewis was removing padding from his fighters gloves during the course of a bout. A variety of boxers have been accused of over-wrapping their hands. But the original intent of boxing gloves was to protect the faces of the boxers getting hit. John L. Sullivan Himself was a proponent of boxing gloves, hoping to turn the bare-knuckle form of the sport into a ‘scientific’ sport more acceptable to the general public.