Sparring w/ Grappling Gloves?

[Nickeroon1987]

Well, my friends and I have been sparring with headgear and 16 oz. gloves and it's great. We can hit each other full force without breaking each other's noses or giving each other big nasty facial bruises.

But the problem is, the 16 oz. gloves are so big, it makes it really hard for me to punch these guys in the face! All they have to do is shell up, and I have a hard time getting through. Or when we're punching at the same time, they can easily just stuff my punches by sticking their hands out.

I've been thinking about getting gloves like these:

http://store.titlemma.com/twins-mma-...ng-gloves.html

It says their as good as 16 oz. gloves, but I don't want to get my face broken, since my friend can hit pretty hard and outweighs me by about 20 pounds.

Is it possible to go all out with gloves like this? or does one have to hold back?

Thanks, sorry if this is a newb question.

[Goju - Joe]

I use something similar

I wouldn't recommend going all out.

Especially for training. The point of those type of gloves is to allow you to grapple and strike, and use striking to set up take downs and submissions.

You don't really need to pound each other to practice that.

[Liffguard]

I've got that pair and they're pretty good but they still don't offer the same protection as a full boxing glove, whatever they tell you.

If your opponents are shelling up it should be pretty easy to hit them. There's no way they can cover every target by just hiding behind their gloves. If they do that thing where they just bring their gloves in front of their face then nail them with hooks or work the body since they shouldn't be able to see properly.

[JP]

Echoing what everybody else has said.

Those MMA sparring gloves are good, however they don't provide the same protection as a boxing glove. I broke my eye-socket sparring with those full-force. You're gonna either need to tone it down some, or accept that fact that you guys are gonna break each other every now and then.

[Emevas]

I think the solution is to become a better boxer, not buy different gloves. I assure you that if you put 16oz gloves on a good boxer, they will hit you with them.

[JP]

I think the solution is to become a better boxer, not buy different gloves. I assure you that if you put 16oz gloves on a good boxer, they will hit you with them.

Oh. There's that too....

[NJM]

Those Shooto gloves might suit you better.
http://www.ssfgear.com/shopsite_sc/product47.html

[Emevas]

To expand, this is like those guys that say "I can't grapple without strikes". It's a crutch, one that compensates for a poor skillset. I used to be the same way, and always complain about glove size and say "If I only had smaller gloves, I'd be better." Then, amazingly, I kept up my training, and was able to hit people with 16oz gloves easily. The gloves didn't change, I just learned about timing and accuracy.

[UKMuayThaiMan]

Hi!
Stick with the 16oz gloves, my ex training partner was around 22 stone (Im under 13 stone) and I have floored him & badly bruised his ribs (to the point he thought they were broke/cracked) with a well aimed hook to the body when he kept covering up his head.

I have also been given sound beating with 16oz gloves (never floored but plenty of bloody noses & bruises).

[ray jackson]

To expand, this is like those guys that say "I can't grapple without strikes". It's a crutch, one that compensates for a poor skillset. I used to be the same way, and always complain about glove size and say "If I only had smaller gloves, I'd be better." Then, amazingly, I kept up my training, and was able to hit people with 16oz gloves easily. The gloves didn't change, I just learned about timing and accuracy.

That's a good point, but you have to consider that using smaller gloves teaches you better defense. When using smaller 7oz MMA gloves, you have to rely a lot more on blocking and head movement as opposed to simply covering up. I would suggest getting the mma gloves and sparring with those in addition to sparring with the larger gloves.