Danger Equipment Deluxe Ultimate Fighter Sparring Boxing Gloves Review

Danger Equipment Deluxe Ultimate Fighter Sparring Boxing Gloves (16oz) Review

Brand

Started in 2004, Danger Equipment is a brand who produce high quality gear, made in Thailand and deliver to countries across the world, with a strong focus on Western martial arts communities. Their goal is to provide customers with the broadest selection of Martial Arts gear and apparel, the highest level of service and the most competitive prices. In the UK you can find their gear over at Danger Boxing Shop.

Danger Boxing Shop sent us a pair of these gloves to test out and provide our feedback for them.

About the gloves

Danger’s gloves tend to range from about £40 – £60, with this pair on the high side of that scale, so these are one of Danger’s higher-end gloves. As the name suggests, they’re designed as sparring gloves, but could easily be used for any other type of training. The price point puts them at a level which many advanced fighters will find appealing, but is also at a point which beginners could at least consider buying if they know they’re going to stick with the sport.

While the gloves are made in Thailand, these gloves are built more for boxing or kickboxing than they are Muay Thai or MMA, but we’ll get back to that in a moment.

The gloves come with a couple of the standard features which are common in modern training gloves such as a grip bar and a breathable mesh, but are different in the fact that the back of the wrist is shielded with a firmer, supportive shield along the back of the wrist, which means the Velcro strap is solely on the inside of the wrist.

Weight and distribution

As with most boxing gloves, these come in sizes 10oz, 12oz, 14oz and 16oz, so you can get a pair tailored to your training. Obviously if you’re using these for sparring you should be using 16oz gloves in most cases (Not sure what size gloves to wear? Take a look at our post on How To Tell What Size or Weight Boxing Gloves You Need).

I’ve been testing out the 16oz versions of these myself. There’s a lot of padding around the knuckles, which I found to be fairly soft yet springy, although I feel like a fair amount of the glove’s weight is taken up by the ‘shielded’ section which protects the back of the wrist.

Aesthetics

The visuals of these gloves are one of the main reasons they caught my eye. I find the dual colour combinations to be really eye catching. At the time of writing, you can buy a few different options on dangerboxingshop.co.uk, which are black/white, red/black or blue/black. There are a number of other colour options available on dangerboxingshop.com though if you want something different.

I went for the red and black combination, partly to match with the red and black Danger Contact Pro Sparring shin guards and I was really happy with the colour choice when they arrived. The red is really rich in colour and looks absolutely great next to the shaped black panel. The panel itself is stitched and contoured with raised areas in a tribal design, with the ‘Danger’ and ‘DE’ logos in the centre, and the weight clearly marked at the bottom. The design of the logo is probably more suited to people looking for something visual and fresh, rather than the people who prefer a more subtle, classic design and it makes a nice change from many of the gloves on the market.

The only other visible designs on the gloves are a small white graphic labelling the gloves as ‘DE Semi-Leather’, as well as the Danger Equipment logo embroidered in gold thread on the Velcro strap, which in my opinion adds a really nice touch.

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

Materials

The first thing to mention when talking about Danger Equipment is that all of their equipment is made with Semi-Leather as opposed to real leather. I initially assumed this was simply a cost cutting measure to ensure the best value for money, however after looking into their blog post What is Semi-Leather? I discovered that it’s actually also because the brand support People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and believe in avoiding animal products when alternatives are available.

The semi-leather on these gloves seems slightly different to the synthetic leather we’ve found on gloves before. It feels really high in quality and doesn’t have any oily feel to it like some cheaper gloves can. It doesn’t quite feel like leather though, it seems a tiny bit more flexible and doesn’t seem to have as much natural grip as real leather, although I’m not really sure this is either a positive or a negative. After a bit of use, I’ve started to notice some feint black marks around the knuckles of these gloves. I can’t honestly tell if they’re just wearing down or if they’re a mark left from someone else’s glove, but it may be wise to stick to darker colours of these gloves just in case the colour does wear down over time.

The inner material is good, it isn’t irritating on the skin at all and doesn’t seem to soak up sweat, although I’ve found it gets a little caught up near the fingers sometimes, which is mildly annoying, but a quick wiggle of the fingers usually sorts it out for the rest of the session. The Velcro is fairly sturdy and seems to hold well even despite the relatively thin strap, although I feel as if the strap was a tiny bit too long. My wrists are fairly skinny, and when the glove is pulled tight there’s a spare inch of the strap left exposed, which could scratch sparring partners if you aren’t careful. Thankfully because the wrist support is so good on these gloves, I found it possible to get away with fastening the Velcro slightly looser in lighter sparring sessions.

Craftsmanship

The craftsmanship in these gloves seems really solid. The stitching is mostly pretty neat, and there aren’t any loose threads showing, or any apparent weaknesses in the material, which is brilliant for the durability. The build of the glove has been designed with a few angles in both the shape and the materials, but none of these cause the glove to lose its shape which is great.

The folds around the sides where the leather has been pulled tight are a little bit messy looking in places, but this looks like it’s more down to the padding being slightly curved than anything, so doesn’t really affect the gloves in any way.

The thumb position feels great for me, not too close to the hand or too far away, and it’s tucked neatly underneath the edge of the knuckle padding, so I’ve had absolutely no issues hitting my thumb at all.

Comfort/use

The gloves are pretty straightforward to put on. It’s relatively easy to slip your hands in and I had no trouble fastening the Velcro. I found the finger area to be a little snug, but the fingers sit in a fairly natural position, so this was quite nice in a way. The gloves are quite long and come further down the arm than most gloves do.

As mentioned near the beginning of the article, these gloves are more suited to boxing or K-1 style kickboxing than they are for MMA or Muay Thai, simply because it’s almost impossible to open the hand enough to be able to clinch or catch kicks. The fingers are almost locked in place, which is a shame, however if you want something more open handed, Danger’s other ranges of gloves are much less closed than this range.

I like the breathable mesh on these gloves. Instead of adding a single strip, what Danger have done with these gloves is add two strips, one each side of the grip bar, which means it’s much easier for the fingers to air out. My initial worry was that this would be uncomfortable on the fingers, but as it happens you really can’t feel the mesh at all.

We tested these gloves out for sparring as well as bag work and pad work. While they’re definitely nice on the pads with some good feedback from strikes, where they really shine is during sparring. The padding is great and allows you to hit your opponent without worrying too much about hurting them. The other reason, (and my favourite feature by far) is the shielded wrist. As mentioned in the Everlast Pro Style Elite review, I personally think this style of glove is great, especially for beginners, because it not only adds brilliant wrist support but also offers great protection when being punched or kicked. The shield provides a soft but firm support which almost completely eliminates any accidental bending of the wrist when punching wrong, which is a huge benefit for any beginner. Many people starting boxing have bad form when it comes to punching, and knowing that these gloves will promote good form and protect from accidents slightly is a great benefit.

Cost

The Danger Equipment Deluxe Ultimate Fighter Sparring Boxing Gloves currently retails at £60. I feel that these gloves are a little out of the range of a beginner, but obviously for someone who knows they’re going to stick with it these are a great pair of all-round gloves. For anybody more advanced, these would make a brilliant pair of sparring gloves, especially if you’re looking to maximise on wrist protection. The most obvious competitor for these gloves are the Twins BGVL-6, which are also made in Thailand and uses a similar style of shielded wrist, but when you consider that the BGVL-6 costs at least £100 in the UK, you realise just how well priced Danger’s gloves are!