Fightkru PURIST Cheek Protector Headgear Review

Fightkru PURIST Cheek Protector Headgear Review

Brand

FightKru International are a Singapore based boxing equipment and apparel brand aiming to promote a lifestyle centred around martial arts. We’re told the brand started after a frustration of seeing the people of Singapore often using gloves that either weren’t constructed for boxing or were of low quality, so instead decided to design their own gloves in order to achieve the quality, protection and fit they were looking for. The brand’s philosophy relies heavily on a martial arts mindset, hoping to take consistent steps towards perfection, while letting the quality of their work reflect the effort they’ve put into it.

About the Headguard

This headgear is part of FightKru’s PURIST range, which includes the FightKru PURIST Protrainer Boxing Gloves which we’ve already reviewed.

The PURIST Cheek Protector Headgear comes in a choice of S, M or L, which gives you a little bit of choice to help you get a good fit. This is (as the name suggests) designed with cheek protection, which means the padding is shaped in order to protect the front of the face.

FightKru sent us this headgear to test out and give our opinion on.

Visuals

Like the gloves, this headgear currently only comes in one colour choice; black with red highlights. While it’s a shame to only see one colour option, it’s still a good combination, and would match well with most other equipment.

The headgear matches well with the design of the matching gloves, with the forehead padding and the sides of the ears both picked out in red. The gold FightKru logo doesn’t stand out on as well on the red panel when compared to the gloves (where it’s seen on a black background), however that’s not necessarily a bad thing – sometimes having an obvious logo right in the middle of your forehead can be a little distracting.

There isn’t usually a huge market for flashy headgear, however I do feel like a couple of alternative colour options would make it a little easier to pair with other equipment.

Below you can find our Fight Gear Focus video giving you a close-up, visual look at this headgear. 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

This headgear is made out of leather, however the inside and outside have slightly different textures. The outside is a rugged, sturdy feeling leather, while the inside feels a little smoother. I’m not sure whether they’ve just used two different types of leather, or whether the inner material is perhaps a high-quality synthetic leather, but there’s definitely a difference to the touch. It makes sense though, the outer material takes the most wear-and tear, while the inside is a little more comfortable. I tend to find that headgear with leather interior is more comfortable than fabric interiors, however there is a slight drawback that they can get a bit sweaty after a long session.

Craftsmanship

The stitching on the headgear is fairly good all over and I can’t see any problem areas. The front is thickly padded, roughly an inch thick in most places, with a slightly softer padding behind the ears. Because all of the thick padding is round the front, the headguard seems a little flat when not worn, however this isn’t really an issue when you’re wearing it. The ends of the cheek protectors also seem to have an even sturdier padding, which adds a little more protection when getting hit straight on. The chin strap also has flaps both sides of the plastic loop, so it won’t rub against your chin or catch on anything else. Overall the headgear seems fairly well designed.

Comfort/use

The Fightkru PURIST Cheek Protector Headgear definitely feels protective to wear. The padding is fairly thick and takes blows well. The chin is the weakest point of the headgear, so I found you’ll definitely feel a solid uppercut, but anywhere else on the head is pretty equally protected. The nose especially is tucked quite closely between the two cheek protectors, and I felt pretty safe when getting punched straight-on, which is certainly good to know if you’re prone to nosebleeds or broken noses.

When putting it on, you either have to get someone to help lace you or try and lace it up in advance and slide it on, which is sometimes not as comfortable. I found that once it’s laced up you can get a pretty snug, close fit, and you can easily tuck the laces in at the back to keep them out of the way. The ears feel a little bit far forward, but that may just be because I need the next size up. Other than that the headgear conforms to the head well, with the cheek guards shaped well to the face, and while it’s pretty thick, it somehow doesn’t feel as bulky as other headgear such as the Venum Challenger 2.0 Headgear we’ve also reviewed.

One problem I have found with this headgear is that the vision is a little limited. The ‘T’ shaped hole where the eyes and nose are is a fairly slim gap, and while this helps stop any punches getting through the gaps, it also limits the vision a little bit. Unfortunately that’s often a little bit unavoidable with cheek protector headgear, and isn’t specific to the FightKru one specifically, but it is noticeable if you’re used to slightly more open headgear.

Cost

If you’re looking to buy this headgear, it costs 130 Singapore Dollars which at the time of writing this review is about £70. While the price is above most budget headgear, it’s also a bit cheaper than many higher tier brands, so is in a good price range, with plenty of quality and a good fit to justify the price.