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Hi all,
This review is so long overdue so I apologize for that, My wife had knee surgery, and I have been very busy with work and finishing the sale of some land I bought recently so I just havn't had as much time to train as I normally do. Its been a while since I wrote a review so dont rip me too hard for this.
The Gloves I'm talking about are the New Mexico Zia gloves that were seen in the Topboxer thread and since I'm at work, maybe somebody can post the pics for me or you can look at them in that thread.
When I contacted Mohammed about getting some gloves, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted, I had a basic idea of the design and I knew I wanted a 12 oz glove for bag and pad work. Mo suggested a Mexican stye glove for me so I said OK.
At this point I have put a few hundred rounds of bag and pads on these so I think I can finally give my opinion about them.
Im going to break this down into a few different categories (I can't believe how rusty I have gotten at reviewing)
The look:
The look is awesome, the colors are very rich, the metalic red really pops, its beautiful and the Yellow he used is a perfect match for the New Mexico flag. The wrist strap and the under side of the thumb is crocodile skin which is made with pieces of real crocodile, not something synthetic, it is very awesome looking but not as breathable as the leather.
The Zia symbol has been printed on the glove but the "505" is stitched on. The printing is very clean and clear with no running and has held up pretty well from all the use. The stitching of the "505" is also nice and clean with no imperfections. I am usually very critical of gear in general be it fighting gear or hunting equipment or anything really but I say in the looks department I give them a 10/10 If I was going to change anything, I may have gone with the metallic red he used on the thumb and palm rather than the croc skin but only because I'm not really a very "flashy" guy, I still love the look but I'm being 100% honest here so that's my feeling. That isn't to be taken as a complaint, I asked Mo to use his artistic talent to design these and he made them awesome so thats just a preference thing but dosen't detract from the look at all.
Construction/quality:
The quality of these is great, they are still going strong even after some heavy use/sweating. The Gloves were made with Orthopedic foam which is very comfortable, it dosent seem to have broken down much even though the gloves now fit my hands almost perfectly. There isnt any loose areas and the stitching hasn't popped at all. I havn't jammed my thumb or tweaked my wrists so I am very happy with the protection. The velcro is still holding strong and the liner hasn't bunched up at all, I really like the liner material and these gloves seem to dry just as fast as any other gloves I've used in the past.
I did find some imperfections on the stitching where the leather from the wrist is attached to the piece that makes the back of the hand, but only there and nowhere else. This does not affect the performance of the glove at all and as I said earlier, the stitching hasn't popped anywhere, there are no loose threads on these gloves anywhere, this stitching is the only imperfection I can find in the craftsmanship, it dosen't bother me, these are made by hand, not mass produced in a factory and I'm more concerned about performance than anything else. In this category, I guess Id say 8/10 just because this stitching is visible and that may bother some people, As I said, it dosen't bother me but I could understand why it might bother somebody who waited 6-12 weeks and paid the big $$$.
Performance:
Now for the good part. These gloves have mostly been used on the bag and pads but I have actually done quite a bit of sparring with them because people here in China dont really usually have a 2nd pair of gloves for sparring and every time I pull out a pair of winnings, the training comes to a halt as every body gathers around and wants to see them.
First of all, these gloves fit great, its sooooo nice to finally get a pair of 12oz gloves that fit well.
On the bag, these feel nice and light, they absorb the shock and don't leave me beaten up when I'm done (at 35yo, I get beat up more than when I was 26). the wrist also is solid and really locks me in place, I havn't hurt myself at all with these and I have done a lot of HB work with these, they are really great on the heavy bag. 10/10 for HB
On the pads, this is where these gloves come to life. They are amazing on the pads, I feel very accurate with them if that makes sense and again, the wrist protection lets me hit at every angle without even thinking about hurting the wrist. I know it may sound dumb but this is really important to me, the last time I hurt my wrist I was out of action for like 6 weeks so wrist support is huge for me. I do a lot of private training because of my schedule so some days, I hit pads for 10-15 rounds in an evening, these have been absolutely brilliant for that use, the fit so well there is no dead space inside the glove, yet, they don't feel tight or cramped, my finger tips don't hit the ends, These are absolutely amazing for pad work, I cant say enough about this, in fact I have stopped using them on the Heavy bag because I want them to last longer for pads. The wrist support and the ortho foam really protect my hands and they simply aren't sore or fatigued after these sessions.
These gloves feel fairly soft, I can easily make a nice fist with them and open my hands to block, parry stuff if I want when I'm doing drills or sparring. In the Pad/drilling department, I give these 11/10
Sparring:
Sweet. I mean, it really feels good to hit a guy with a 12 rather than a 16. Its just fun. I'm a fairly big guy at 6'4, 205 and I hit fairly hard. I have to say, it feels good to really crack a guy with these. I'm less technical as a boxer/kickboxer and more of a brawler or whatever you want to call it and it just feels less cumbersome to wear 12s for sparring...especially when the other guy is wearing 12s. I havn't had any trouble clinching in these either, the cuff is different than on my Thai gloves so it feels different but that dosen't mean they can't clinch, I mean, I clinch in Tokushus so whatever. I dont really have much else to say about sparring with these other than I like it and have no complaints, these weren't intended for sparring but they work just fine for it. 10/10
Overall:
I'm very impressed, These are definetly worth the $$$ so buy with confidence, Mo is a cool guy and is easy to work with and its easy to get ahold of him through email. The materials, design, quality and functionality of these gloves is absolutely on point, Mo can address any areas that are important to the individual, for me it was wrist support and he was spot on with that. These really shine for me during pad work, drilling and private one on one sessions, these aren't my first choice for when I need one pair and I know there is going to be some sparring but they are fine for it, they are absolutely my first choice for private classes where we really do a lot of pad work. As I said earlier, If I changed anything I would have probably skipped the croc skin but thats just an opinion.
These are great gloves, I wish I'd gotten my hands on a pair sooner.
Thanks for reading and if somebody posts my pic that would be awesome. Feel free to ask any questions, I look forward to seeing your comments.
This review is so long overdue so I apologize for that, My wife had knee surgery, and I have been very busy with work and finishing the sale of some land I bought recently so I just havn't had as much time to train as I normally do. Its been a while since I wrote a review so dont rip me too hard for this.
The Gloves I'm talking about are the New Mexico Zia gloves that were seen in the Topboxer thread and since I'm at work, maybe somebody can post the pics for me or you can look at them in that thread.
When I contacted Mohammed about getting some gloves, I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted, I had a basic idea of the design and I knew I wanted a 12 oz glove for bag and pad work. Mo suggested a Mexican stye glove for me so I said OK.
At this point I have put a few hundred rounds of bag and pads on these so I think I can finally give my opinion about them.
Im going to break this down into a few different categories (I can't believe how rusty I have gotten at reviewing)
The look:
The look is awesome, the colors are very rich, the metalic red really pops, its beautiful and the Yellow he used is a perfect match for the New Mexico flag. The wrist strap and the under side of the thumb is crocodile skin which is made with pieces of real crocodile, not something synthetic, it is very awesome looking but not as breathable as the leather.
The Zia symbol has been printed on the glove but the "505" is stitched on. The printing is very clean and clear with no running and has held up pretty well from all the use. The stitching of the "505" is also nice and clean with no imperfections. I am usually very critical of gear in general be it fighting gear or hunting equipment or anything really but I say in the looks department I give them a 10/10 If I was going to change anything, I may have gone with the metallic red he used on the thumb and palm rather than the croc skin but only because I'm not really a very "flashy" guy, I still love the look but I'm being 100% honest here so that's my feeling. That isn't to be taken as a complaint, I asked Mo to use his artistic talent to design these and he made them awesome so thats just a preference thing but dosen't detract from the look at all.
Construction/quality:
The quality of these is great, they are still going strong even after some heavy use/sweating. The Gloves were made with Orthopedic foam which is very comfortable, it dosent seem to have broken down much even though the gloves now fit my hands almost perfectly. There isnt any loose areas and the stitching hasn't popped at all. I havn't jammed my thumb or tweaked my wrists so I am very happy with the protection. The velcro is still holding strong and the liner hasn't bunched up at all, I really like the liner material and these gloves seem to dry just as fast as any other gloves I've used in the past.
I did find some imperfections on the stitching where the leather from the wrist is attached to the piece that makes the back of the hand, but only there and nowhere else. This does not affect the performance of the glove at all and as I said earlier, the stitching hasn't popped anywhere, there are no loose threads on these gloves anywhere, this stitching is the only imperfection I can find in the craftsmanship, it dosen't bother me, these are made by hand, not mass produced in a factory and I'm more concerned about performance than anything else. In this category, I guess Id say 8/10 just because this stitching is visible and that may bother some people, As I said, it dosen't bother me but I could understand why it might bother somebody who waited 6-12 weeks and paid the big $$$.
Performance:
Now for the good part. These gloves have mostly been used on the bag and pads but I have actually done quite a bit of sparring with them because people here in China dont really usually have a 2nd pair of gloves for sparring and every time I pull out a pair of winnings, the training comes to a halt as every body gathers around and wants to see them.
First of all, these gloves fit great, its sooooo nice to finally get a pair of 12oz gloves that fit well.
On the bag, these feel nice and light, they absorb the shock and don't leave me beaten up when I'm done (at 35yo, I get beat up more than when I was 26). the wrist also is solid and really locks me in place, I havn't hurt myself at all with these and I have done a lot of HB work with these, they are really great on the heavy bag. 10/10 for HB
On the pads, this is where these gloves come to life. They are amazing on the pads, I feel very accurate with them if that makes sense and again, the wrist protection lets me hit at every angle without even thinking about hurting the wrist. I know it may sound dumb but this is really important to me, the last time I hurt my wrist I was out of action for like 6 weeks so wrist support is huge for me. I do a lot of private training because of my schedule so some days, I hit pads for 10-15 rounds in an evening, these have been absolutely brilliant for that use, the fit so well there is no dead space inside the glove, yet, they don't feel tight or cramped, my finger tips don't hit the ends, These are absolutely amazing for pad work, I cant say enough about this, in fact I have stopped using them on the Heavy bag because I want them to last longer for pads. The wrist support and the ortho foam really protect my hands and they simply aren't sore or fatigued after these sessions.
These gloves feel fairly soft, I can easily make a nice fist with them and open my hands to block, parry stuff if I want when I'm doing drills or sparring. In the Pad/drilling department, I give these 11/10
Sparring:
Sweet. I mean, it really feels good to hit a guy with a 12 rather than a 16. Its just fun. I'm a fairly big guy at 6'4, 205 and I hit fairly hard. I have to say, it feels good to really crack a guy with these. I'm less technical as a boxer/kickboxer and more of a brawler or whatever you want to call it and it just feels less cumbersome to wear 12s for sparring...especially when the other guy is wearing 12s. I havn't had any trouble clinching in these either, the cuff is different than on my Thai gloves so it feels different but that dosen't mean they can't clinch, I mean, I clinch in Tokushus so whatever. I dont really have much else to say about sparring with these other than I like it and have no complaints, these weren't intended for sparring but they work just fine for it. 10/10
Overall:
I'm very impressed, These are definetly worth the $$$ so buy with confidence, Mo is a cool guy and is easy to work with and its easy to get ahold of him through email. The materials, design, quality and functionality of these gloves is absolutely on point, Mo can address any areas that are important to the individual, for me it was wrist support and he was spot on with that. These really shine for me during pad work, drilling and private one on one sessions, these aren't my first choice for when I need one pair and I know there is going to be some sparring but they are fine for it, they are absolutely my first choice for private classes where we really do a lot of pad work. As I said earlier, If I changed anything I would have probably skipped the croc skin but thats just an opinion.
These are great gloves, I wish I'd gotten my hands on a pair sooner.
Thanks for reading and if somebody posts my pic that would be awesome. Feel free to ask any questions, I look forward to seeing your comments.
