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Certainly, that's true. But this is to confuse matters. Behind the sponsorship of notable athletes by various brands is an attempt to advertise to the broader consumer. The implicit message here (less so in straightforward advertisements) is that by using such-and-such a brand, you, too, can be like so-and-so. This has less to do with admiration for a thing in itself and for its own sake and more to do with an appeal to the appetite of the consumer (by proposing some kind of delusive self-image) that he or she can become such-and-such a person simply by owning this-or-that brand of equipment. On the part of the brand, this sort of sponsorship is no longer aimed at the beautiful, but at what is produced precisely as a commercial product intended for consumption. In other words, this is very likely the superficial admiration that should be avoided by one whose true aim is to create something displaying intrinsic beauty. Of course, it is not always easy to discern the difference from the outside, but there is a very important difference.
That said, insofar as a boxing glove does what it is for-the-sake-of, and does it well, it will distinguish itself from other such gloves. And in this there is something admirable.
