Lonsdale Xlite Training Gloves Review

Lonsdale Xlite Training Boxing Gloves (16oz) Review

Brand

Lonsdale is a boxing, mixed martial arts and clothing brand that was founded in London, England in 1960. Ex-boxer Bernard Hart started the brand as a boxing equipment company, but it eventually branched out into clothing as well. The company is named after Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale, who in 1891 set up the first organised boxing matches with gloves, following the deaths of three boxers in bare-knuckle fights. Lonsdale have been historically worn by many famous boxers, including boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The brand is now owned by Sports Direct.

About the gloves

The Lonsdale Xlite Training Gloves are designed to be low in value, aimed mainly at beginners, but at the same time they’re a huge step up from the Lonsdale Pro Style Training Gloves we’ve already reviewed, in terms of both quality and features. It’s designed mainly for boxing, with a grip bar built in and mesh palm for extra breathability. As with most boxing gloves, these come in 10oz, 12oz, 14oz and 16oz versions.

Weight and distribution

The gloves are available in 10oz, 12oz, 14oz or 16oz. Personally I’ve been working with the 16oz versions for the maximum amount of padding.

What I find strange about these gloves is that they seem to be a lot thinner in comparison to other 16oz gloves. I feel like this is partially because the padding is uniformly distributed across the back of the hand and knuckles (as opposed to many gloves which have extra padding on the knuckles), but also possibly because of the thick X-Lite shaped padded zones on the back of the hand.

Visuals

The visuals are probably one of the biggest selling points of these gloves. They only come in one colour, which is black and yellow, although they do have a nice, defined style. The yellow is a slightly ‘neon’ colour, which is used for the trim around the wrist strap as well as the stitching on the gloves. There’ a ‘Lonsdale London’ logo on the back of the hand in a light grey, which looks slightly silver when the light hits it right, as well as two ‘X-Lite’ logos, one on the thumb and one on the inside of the wrist. The wrist strap is also detailed with the iconic Lonsdale lion, which is black to match the strap, meaning that it can only just be seen when caught in the light. I’m a big fan of subtle details like this, and it’s been really nicely implemented here. To top it off, there are a few different materials, which add visual variety, such as the angled padding above the wrist strap, and the perforated material below.

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Materials

These gloves are made with a form of synthetic leather. It’s much less plastic-feeling than the Pro Style Training Gloves, and you can tell it’s slightly better quality. Lonsdale claim this is a ‘durable outer shell’ however I would have to disagree. While it is nice, it feels far too thin, and you can feel it stretch, which isn’t really a good sign. Further to that though, the material split pretty quickly around the thumb area, so I’m convinced that it won’t last a huge length of time. I appreciate these are likely marketed as beginner gloves, but they should be a little more durable than they are. Comparing these gloves to other non-leather gloves from the likes of Danger Equipment just makes these looks incredibly dissappointing.

The palm of the glove has a slim breathable section, but seems like it’s far too thin to have any real effect. In the center of the glove it’s only about a centimetre wide. There seem to have been two materials used on the inside of these gloves, as the lining on the hand compartment feels very slightly softer than the lining around the wrist. Overall there are no complaints about the lining, it all seems pretty good considering the low cost of these gloves.

Craftsmanship

The stitching on these is a huge upgrade compared to the Pro Style gloves, and is generally neat all over. I was actually pleasantly surprised, as I’ve seen much more expensive gloves with far messier stitching. I’m also really impressed with the different areas to these gloves. As mentioned earlier, they’ve been made with a variety of different materials on both the outside and the inside, and they’ve been merged together almost seamlessly.

Despite that I feel like there could have been a little more focus put into the wrist support on these gloves. The gloves look like they would have sturdy wrist support thanks to the padding on the back of the wrist, but in reality the gloves just bend at the seam above it. There’s also minimal padding on the inside of the palm, which means it’s far too easy to accidentally bend the wrist which could lead to injuries.

Comfort/use

When wearing these gloves I found that my hand didn’t really seem to fit well. The finger sections feel a little shorter than most gloves, so I had some problems getting a good grip. The thumb is also in a bit of a weird position. It feels like it’s angled into more of a pinching position against the knuckle, rather than in a natural fist position.

Other than that, the glove itself is actually fairly comfortable. The padding does a good enough job at keeping the hands, and your sparring partners protected and definitely does the job for people with lower budgets.

Cost

For the most part these gloves do the job well, and at about £30 I can see these being a decent starting gloves. I feel I have to advise that it’s worth spending a little more on gloves as soon as you know you want to stick with it. There are a few areas which let these gloves down, and spending an extra £10 on a slightly better product would mean a huge jump in quality.