Bad Boy Pro Series Advanced Thai Boxing Gloves Review

Bad Boy Pro Series Advanced Thai Boxing Gloves (16oz) Review

Brand

Founded in San Diego in 1982 Bad Boy quickly gained a reputation for sponsoring athletes, initially in surfing, skating and motocross competitions. They made the move to martial arts by sponsoring the BJJ legend Rickson Gracie, and currently sponsors a stable of fighters including the likes of Alexander Gustafsson and Michael “Venom” Page. They stock a wide fade of fight gear and apparel and have become one of the most recognisable names in MMA with their distinctive two eyed logo.

About the gloves

These gloves are part of the latest generation of Bad Boy’s popular Pro Series. The latest Pro Series Advanced Thai Boxing Gloves take inspiration from it’s predecessor, but with a few upgrades. Bad Boy were pretty excited for us to try these gloves out, partly because they’re one of the brand’s first gloves constructed fully with authentic buffalo leather.

As a Thai boxing glove these are designed with a slightly more compact fit, with a shorter wrist and naturally more open fingers. The gloves are available in 10oz, 12oz, 14oz and 16oz meaning that all of the standard options are available.

Bad Boy sent us a pair of these gloves in 16oz to test out and give our honest opinion on.

Visuals

So these gloves come in three colours variants. Each version has the same black leather, with graphics coloured either white, red or green. This coloured section cuts across the back of the hand diagonally, with grey slashes cut in, and ‘BADBOY’ cut out, showing off the raw leather beneath it. The bold, slashed visuals are great if you’re into slightly more modern visuals. Something I quite like about these which isn’t really captured at all in photos is the fact that these coloured sections have a slight shine to them, which adds a nice contrast to the matte, natural texture of the leather.

I got a pair in Green, which are more of a dark khaki green sort of colour rather than the brighter in-your-face greens we’ve tested from other brands. The green is pretty muted in comparison to the other two colour versions, but I think it actually works out well, and the black and green make a nice combination. I could easily see these matching up well with any army camo designed equipment.

Other than the large visuals covering most of the back of the hand, there are two other graphics on the velcro strap. One of these is the Bad Boy logo which is printed directly on to the leather rather than using a plastic/rubber/fabric patch. I feel like this brings the focus to the leather a little more, but also means there aren’t any sharp edges or rough fabric to worry about. On the inside of the wrist, there are some more visuals, indicative of the production and features of the gloves.

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

Okay so on to the leather. As we’ve already mentioned these are made with Buffalo leather. Most boxing gloves on the market are made with Cowhide leather, which is a little more common, so it’s refreshing to see a slightly different material. Instantly I noticed there’s a slight leathery smell to these, which is a little more distinct than regular leather, but not too overbearing that you can smell them a way off. It fades a little after time, but you can still smell that rawness in a way you don’t feel as often with cowhide leather.

If you want a pair of lasting gloves though, chances are you don’t really care what it’s made out of as long as it’s durable. I’ve been paying particular attention to how the material fares. I did spot a few very tiny scratches or scuffs around the wrist of one of these gloves, but I’m fairly confident that this was a minor issue either with the raw hide or the manufacturing process. In terms of actual use, the material seems to be performing just as well as real leather, and doesn’t seem to be any more prone to damage during training.

To touch the leather seems pretty thick to the touch, yet still remains a slight suppleness to it – something we loved previously about the last Bad Boy gloves we tested – meaning it feels a little softer to the touch, presumably thanks to how the leather is treated. While it isn’t quite as soft as the leather on the Legacy 2.0 gloves, it also feels a little sturdier, almost as a best-of-both.

Inside the glove the lining is smooth yet soft, which feels pretty comfortable on the hand, with the interior section behind the wrist lined with leather. This leather is smoother than the buffalo leather on the outside of the glove and it wouldn’t surprise me if this section was actually synthetic, but as it’s purpose is for comfort rather than durability this isn’t an issue.

Comfort/use

If you know the common differences of Muay Thai gloves, it’s easy to see how these are well optimised for the sport. The gloves have been designed with a shorter wrist, which usually allows for a bit more wrist movement, although this is helped even further by he palm split, which comes up quite high. Often high palm splits will be held together by an elasticated section, but there isn’t one on these gloves. This means that there’s a little more ability to move the wrist, which helps especially when clinching, but at the same time can leave your palm feeling a little more exposed, which can be a bit of a trade-off if you tend to use your palm to parry and block kicks often.

The fingers are in a semi-open position, which means they’re in the perfect position to hook on to an opponent’s neck or limbs, but isn’t too hard to close your hand, meaning you can still make a good fist when you punch. The knuckle is protected by a fair amount of padding, with almost as much padding covering the back of the hand, offering lots of protection when blocking strikes. The thumb feels a little less protected, which is usually fine, however the thumb compartment feels a little short on these gloves, meaning it can be a little uncomfortable at times.

When training with these gloves I’ve never found them to feel too hot. Obviously the high palm split helps this, but there’s also a breathable panel around where the grip bar is, and rows of perforations along the sides of the palm and the thumb. This also helps the gloves air out really well after use, which should help prevent any bad smells over time.

As these are well shaped as a Thai boxing glove I find these work really nicely as a sparring glove, where you can really make the most out of the protection, shape and fit.

Cost

These gloves sit in the region of around £70, which is probably a fair price for these in comparison to other brands of high quality Thai Boxing gloves, which tend to be in the £70-£100 region.