A1 Fight Gear Haze Velcro Boxing Gloves Review

A1 Fight Gear Haze Velcro Boxing Gloves Review (16oz) Review

Brand

A1 Fight Gear are a combat sports brand based in Aberdeen, Scotland. As part of their mission, A1 set out with a bold vision to make a significant contribution to the combat industry, introducing their own range of boxing gloves and combat wear, with the intention of bringing great quality and materials at a great price.

About the gloves

The Haze gloves are the current top-of-the-line offering from A1 Fight Gear, but at under £60 they’re also at a great price. You can pick these gloves up in either Velcro or Lace-up versions, both of which are based on the same model. While we haven’t tested the lace-up versions ourselves there are likely some strong similarities between the two.

As their top end gloves, these are made with genuine full-grain cowhide leather, padded with a layered combination of EVA foam, Latex foam and A1’s special closed cell foam, which provides what A1 find to be a great combination firmer and softer materials. We’ll come back to how this performs in action later on.

A1 Fight Gear sent over a pair of their Haze Boxing Gloves in 16oz to test out and provide our honest opinion on.

Visuals

The gloves are available in five colours right now; Red (the version we’ve been testing), blue, green, yellow and pink. The colours are pretty vibrant so stand out well, contrasts with the pattern printed on. I’ll admit I wasn’t immediately taken with the pattern when I saw it online, however after having the gloves in person and seeing them in action I think it’s the sort of design which looks better in person. The pattern is a series of distorted, scattered lines, which almost blurs a little visually when moving.

A1 have their logo placed pretty centrally on the back of the hand, but leave the wrist a little cleaner, opting only for a small patch on the velcro versions, which looks quite nice, especially considering the black leather has a mild shine to it, meaning it catches the light quite nicely.

The build of these definitely adds to the visuals too though – it’s clear from the shape of them that they aren’t cheaply designed gloves, and features like the split thumb add to the premium feel of the design. I do feel like this puts them in a bit of a unique space, combining loud visuals with a more premium appearance in a way other brands often shy away from.

Below you can find our Fight Gear Focus video giving you a close-up, visual look at these Gloves. Make sure you check out the rest of the video series and Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss any of our future videos.

Materials/Craftsmanship

Overall these gloves are built quite well. The leather is of course the first thing you notice on a pair of gloves, and as mentioned previously these use a full grain leather, which is likely what helps the leather on these feel so sturdy, and no doubt will prove to be durable over time. The surface of the leather is smoother, with the leather around the palm feeling a little softer naturally where it isn’t pulled as tightly.

On the inside A1 Fight Gear have used a slightly more basic lining. It feels a little dry on the skin, and isn’t quite as smooth or soft as the lining on some other gloves. That said, once you have your hand wraps on and start training, it’s not noticeable at all, so I found this wasn’t a huge issue. There isn’t a huge amount of breathability on these gloves despite the small perforations on the palm, however I haven’t noticed the inside of the gloves feeling too damp after a training session, so clearly the lining is doing it’s job well.

The Velcro strap is a good length. It wraps around properly without much of an overhang, so there shouldn’t be any exposed velcro. It can be a little hard pulling the strap enough to get a tight fit, but once you do get it right they fit well and the velcro holds in place strongly. The cuff comes a good length down the wrist, and the padding helps to limit any accidental bending of the hand.

Comfort/use

I find these gloves make for a fairly comfortable fit. They don’t feel particularly loose or overly tight, instead finding a nice middle ground. When first putting the gloves on the padding felt a little flat on the knuckles, so I was worried they wouldn’t offer much in the way of protection, however after using these for a while now I’m convinced that was just a sign of them not being broken in at the time. When actually punching there’s a medium amount of feedback, but the padding keeps the knuckles fairly well protected.

With most gloves I tend to have a good feel for what I personally prefer a glove for – whether it’s sparring, something hard hitting like bag work, or some sharper pad work. With these gloves though I haven’t really felt a strong preference for any of these activities. While they may not be perfectly optimised for any type of training in particular, I also can’t find many faults for them. Overall I’d say they seem to work well for any type of training, and I’ve found they make for a good all-round glove if you’re planning on mixing up your sessions.

One thing I do like about them for sparring in particular though is that they have a fair amount of natural finger movement, which makes clinching and parrying a little easier. I feel the finger compartment is also well shaped on these gloves, and doesn’t feel too short, tight or wide like many other brands can.

Cost

For these gloves you’re looking at £59.99 for the velcro version or £55.00 for lace-ups. It’s uncommon to find lace-ups sold cheaper than the velcro equivalent, but makes for a good deal if you do prefer a lace-up glove. As for the velcro versions if you’re looking for a good all-round glove then these are definitely at a competitive price point and justify their price well.