Sabas Pro Series Prime Gloves 16oz Review and Comparison

OGdel

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Hi guys. This is my first post and review, please don't rip me apart;).

First time buying gloves from Sabas. I wanted to try a Grant inspired glove since I only have a pair of Winnings 12oz and Hayabusa Ikusa 16oz. I heard good stuffs about Sabas and lucky me, this month they had the Pro Series Prime in stock. So I went and copped a pair.

Shipping only took 2 days from west coast to east coast, which was fantastic.
Now on to the gloves:

First Impressions (Fit/Feel/Finish):
sabasPSP.jpg
Took them out of the package and wow, these gloves feel rock hardo_O The leather looks really rugged and durable. The stitching is nice and there are no loose threads, however the holes for the laces are not cut cleanly. When I was re-lacing with my Lock-Laces, I could not thread through the holes. I had to poke through them with a toothpick a few times to clear the hole.

The cuffs are longer than I am use to, but hey it is a triple cuff, unbeatable wrist protection. Lots of padding on the inside of the wrist. The inside padding on the wrist is not as streamlined as the Winnings padding.

The liner is quite rough compared to the Winnings liner and even the Hayabusas. I would definitely follow Sabas recommendation of wrapping your hands when using these gloves for more comfort.

Hand compartment is pretty snug. There is just enough space for hand wraps. My hands are decent size? I am 5'10 and 158lbs with super thin wrists. There was no issue with thumb placement. There is one thing I am worried about, unlike Winning or the Hayabusas, the padding does not go all the way over the fingers. There is just the outer leather and a piece of felt/suede at the tip. It feels nice but when I make a fist I can see my middle and index fingers stretching the leather. Hope I will not poke a hole through the gloves.
Nofinger.jpg Fingerout.jpg
And did I mention the padding was hard af?<Lmaoo> On a scale of 1 (pillow) to 10 (rock): Winning is a 3, Hayabusa Ikusa is a 4, the Sabas PSP is probably around a 8 or 9.


Performance (On Heavy Bag/Mitts)

Padding is thick from the back of the hand all the way to the fingers. Really nice popping sound on the bags and mitts. Overall glove is relatively compact. The padding is harder than Winnings... by a lot, too. But I can still feel my punches. The knuckle face is really flat, so I would not recommend people with bad form to use this exact model. Can not compare to any other Mexican style gloves since I never tried any gloves other than Winnings.


Overall:

I only got a few rounds in them so I will update again in the near future and try my best to answer everyone's questions. I am going to beat the crap out of these gloves on the heavy bag since I will only be using my Winnings on mitts. If you hate your sparring partner, you can use them to break in these gloves! Just kidding, it is not good to hit people with rocks.
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Nice review. I ordered a custom pair a few days ago. I'll see how mine stacks up to what you got!
 
OGdel, nice review. I'm curious, between the Sabas and Winning, which gloves is more fun to use on the heavy bag?
 
OGdel, nice review. I'm curious, between the Sabas and Winning, which gloves is more fun to use on the heavy bag?

The Sabas feels tougher so I do not baby it like my Winnings. Both gloves are protective and sound great on the heavy bag. But I do feel that the general consensus of Winnings not being as responsive as "puncher's gloves" holds true. Winning does tone down a lot of the impact upon contact. Using the Sabas makes you feel like you eat heavy bags for breakfast. Once the Sabas gloves break in, they really are fun to use.

So if you like to go ham and have fun every session on the heavy bags, Sabas is the way to go in my opinion. Winning is simpler and more refined, just good quality and protective padding and nothing else you do not need. Hope that answered your question.

Can not comment on durability of Sabas Prime gloves, yet. Only used them for 10-12 rounds on the heavy bag.
Fun fact: the Sabas dries up relatively fast after a sweaty session, a bit faster than Winnings.
 
How do you like the triple cuff with the lock laces? Is it as good as velcro?
 
How do you like the triple cuff with the lock laces? Is it as good as velcro?
Sorry Gibu, never tried the velcro version. Sabas has the velcro Primes for sale right now. If I waited a week, I might have gotten the velcro ones instead because they have eva padding on the palm side. The lock laces work perfectly fine, I use them on my Winnings as well. I would say it is better than velcro since almost everyone agrees that laced versions have better wrist support. I got skinny wrists, too, and they fit pretty snug if you tie them down correctly. I just think they are much less of a hassle than velcro cause velcro wears out pretty fast.
 
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Is it possible to use these for sparing once broken in? How long does that take?
 
It'd be great if you could report back on the durability of these gloves after three or six months of steady use.

I've read a lot of less than flattering comments about the durability of Sabas recently.

It's unfortunate, because they otherwise seem like high-performing gloves.
 
This.

I've always been curious on the durability of the Prime model specifically, since it is their premium/top model.
 
I've had my gloves for about 4 months now, but I haven't used them as regularly as I have my other gloves because I haven't trained as frequently as I used to (gym closed down for a month during a move, was ill for a period of time). So far I have mixed feelings about them.

The leather everywhere but the fist is still fantastic and the padding still feels like new, but the leather on the fist is starting to peel and fray a bit on the sides (where the side of the index finger and pinky fingers are), which I haven't seen in any of the other gloves I've owned in the same stretch of time. It's nothing awful, but I'll post pictures later.
 
Hi all, I was not as active on this forum for a while haha. I have used mine regularly up till January (focused on grad school applications afterwards).

The gloves softened up a bit. I probably just broke them in. Padding is just like new. Benry mentions that the leather frays on the side of the gloves, I have only seen minor fraying ( I only used them on heavy bag). I agree with Benry that the fist leather could deteriorate faster. I have not seen the air bubble phenomenon on my glove yet. The fragile padding however, I think it might just be a problem with the Super Soft. Sabas uses different layers and padding materials for the Pro Series. So for Sabas, the TC and Prime might be the way to go and shy away from the SuperSoft (Winning style).
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Also IMPORTANT NOTICE:
I am selling my sparring gear because I sustained an eye injury after I got smashed in a party (don't ask :() and I cannot risk hard contact sports anymore, which sucks.

Sabas Head Gear (Large) and Groin Protector (Medium): Used 5 rounds, no sweat smell, cleaned afterwards.
Sabas 16oz Blackout ProSeriesPrime: Used around 100 rounds on heavy bag, always cleaned and dried afterwards, padding is just broken in, leather is well taken care of.
Price: $230 (Preferably I sell them all together) includes shipping.

Sold
 
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Hvae you try lace n loop instead of lock lace?

I
 
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