4 oz Gloves?

I personally believe that 8oz gloves should be used in today's heavyweight division, instead of the 16oz gloves. I think that 6oz should be used by light heavies and middleweights, and anything below should use 4oz.

I believe it'd create a bigger emphasis on precision and better defense.

 

Heavies generally use 10 ounce gloves, I've read at times its 12 but am unsure of this. Most lighter weights use 6 or 8 oz, I'm not aware in the modern era of smaller gloves being used.

 

during this era those gloves were 8oz which is what they look like the glove maker makes the difference in how the glove is designed the puncher glove was always Cleto-Reyes

Gloves went to 10oz around 135-147 the 12oz I believe in the 80's were the Ltheavyweight and up glove weight was 12oz IIRC

Cleto Reyes the glove of the Mexican fighters were what I trained with as well as with Mexican boxers and we used as large as 18-24oz for sparring and bag work....the funny thing is that all they ever did with their gloves was move the added weight up the glove with the knuckles being relatively unprotected....as you can imagine punches were slight slower but wearing those gloves were the equivalent of putting weight on your wrists for added punching power and of course when you punched wrong their seemed to be quite a few boxer fractures.

There is a misguided belief that the heavier the glove the more padding hence making them safer but as proven the added weight just adds weight to the fist giving the impact more weight creating more of a whip/snap motion even if the fighters punch is slower. Also the standing 8 count is another misguided attempt as a safety measure when in actuality it just prolongs a fighters brain trauma allowing them to continue to recover just enough to continue taking a beating...add this up over a career and you have a Jerry Quarry or a Bobby Chacon.

On the contrary neurologist and TBI institutes have come to the conclusion that the 4oz glove like MMA uses would be safer for boxing with a full glove of course to protect eyes;.....keep in mind boxers do not have to worry about defending themselves on the ground....due to a spark out being more instant with a lower trauma issues by repeated punches and the head being snapped around....damage of the brain is caused by blunt force trauma accompanied by the jarring of the brain in the skull as the head is knocked around....the theory is solid but the visuals would more than likely be worse with more cuts etc....so unless boxing does away with the misguided safety protocols their will always be fighter paying the price

 

The Robert Quiroga vs Kid Akeem fight at 115 was fought with either 4 or 6 ounce gloves. Kid Akeem, as most know, suffered brain trauma while Quiroga needed extensive surgery to repair the facial damage. I believe that this fight was the force behind the change to larger gloves even in the smallest weight classes.

 

I think I read they were 6oz gloves....again 6-8oz being more padded depends on the maker and where the weight is added. Brutal fight for sure I forgot they had allowed gloves that small then. I had a friend fight at 106 as a pro I think his gloves I thought were 8 could have been smaller may have depended on the regulation if any for that state...

 

I see a lot of posed photos of fighters pre-1930 where the guys are wearing gloves so small they look like bag gloves. (Maybe they are? Anyone know when gloves specifically for bag work came into use?)

But sometimes the gloves look quite large but not very densely padded. Look at Jack Johnson's glove in this photo; it looks like he's got a whiskey sack on his hand stuffed with a few cotton balls:

[url]https://s.hdnux.com/photos/11/14/20/2409487/7/920x920.jpg[/url]

 

I prefer the style of fighting you get with smaller gloves, just seems more pure to me.

 

You'd see a lot more head movement with smaller gloves.