Japanese-Style Training Boxing Gloves Review
When Ring to Cage C-17 training gloves got released, many people noticed the multitude of design similarities between them and the expensive and highly praised Winning training gloves. One could conclude that the C-17 gloves were heavily inspired by the Winning gloves, and they probably wouldn’t be wrong.
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For those who are interested in the C-17 gloves enough to consider buying them, we prepared our Ring to Cage C-17 Boxing Gloves review. This pair is the 2.0 version of the gloves, an improvement over the 1.0.
Due to the obvious similarities between these and Winning gloves, we cannot avoid drawing parallels between the two. So those who have used the Winning training gloves will get a better idea of what the Ring to Cage gloves are.
Let’s get started to see what the C-17 gloves have and how they do compare with their inspirer!
Features
Padding
Ring to Cage C-17 2.0 training gloves have a soft multi-layer padding, for which they were quite highly praised as good sparring gloves by many reviewers. Most typically, all-purpose training gloves aren’t that good in specific training applications like heavy bag punching or sparring, but it isn’t the case with these Ring to Cage gloves.
When comparing the padding with that of the Winning training gloves, the padding of the Ring to Cage C1 gloves seems to be less dense, even though it is still soft. While this makes this gloves suitable for sparring, heavy bag punching could be not as comfortable and easy.
That could be especially the case if you have powerful punches since you may just punch “through” the padding of these gloves when hitting a heavy bag. Aside from that, if the gloves sit really tight on your hands, then you will probably feel your knuckles more when punching a heavy bag.
So all in all, while these gloves are all-purpose training gloves, they appear to be more suitable for sparring rather than for heavy bag hitting.
Materials
When it comes to materials, these gloves appear to be really good. They are completely made from high-grade cowhide leather, which is definitely an advantage for any training glove. Thanks to the leather, you could expect these gloves to serve you for a pretty long time.
The interior of these gloves is fitted with thicker, more durable, and more comfortable nylon lining than that of the Ring to Cage C-17 1.0 gloves. Aside from impact absorption, the lining should allow your hands to breathe freely, though they will sweat more or less anyway.
When compared to the Winning training gloves, the material quality is obviously not there due to the huge price gap between the glove models. Costing about $200 less than the Winning gloves, Ring to Cage gloves nonetheless can boast some good quality.
While C-17 appears to be very durable, its leather tends to develop bubbles and scratches: nothing too serious, but the looks could get worse quite soon. Aside from that, there could be some inconsistencies in quality around the surface of the gloves, but again, nothing too serious.
Fit
If you have used Winning training gloves before, then you will most likely instantly notice that the Ring to Cage gloves are noticeably wider. This, on one hand, could allow you to use more wraps to protect your hands but on the other could make the gloves fit less snugly.
These particular Ring to Cage gloves use Velcro wrist wraps, though they also offer laced versions of the C-17 2.0 gloves. The Velcro versions of the gloves appear to be less supportive of the wrists, but they are certainly easier to put on and take off.
The thumbs of these gloves were also inspired by those of the Winning gloves. They are straight and appear to be not so much different, meaning that they allow for safe and comfortable positioning of the thumb during punches.
A great thing about C-17 2.0 gloves is that they feel broken in out of the box, as it was with the Winning gloves. Ideally, it should take you only a couple of sessions before the gloves are fully broken in.
Size
These Ring to Cage gloves come in 12, 14, 16, and 18 ounces. In fact, the gloves’ actual weight appears to match the stated weight perfectly, which isn’t typically the case with cheaper training gloves.
Design
The design makes it evident that the Ring to Cage C-17 2.0 gloves was inspired by the Winning gloves. These gloves have the same flat profile, the same thumb, and even the interior construction appears to be the same.
That being said, we can’t really say that these gloves are just ripped off of the Winning training gloves. Ring to Cage boxing gloves are much cheaper and they can’t really compete with the Winning gloves.
Instead, the Ring to Cage boxing gloves attempts to bring the comfort and quality of the Winning gloves for a much cheaper price. The gloves aren’t 100% similar, but the C-17 2.0 surely has great quality for the price.
Ring to Cage offers 45 color options to choose from for these gloves, not to mention that they also have a couple of custom colors available.
Price
Ring to Cage C-17 2.0 aren’t cheap but neither they are very expensive. And that’s the beauty of these gloves: for a good price, you get a pair inspired by the quality and comfort of the Winning training gloves.
Pros & cons
Pros:
- Excellent material quality.
- Quick break-in.
- Many colors plus custom color options.
- Soft padding.
Cons:
- The padding may be insufficient for heavy bag punching.
- The leather tends to bubble.
- Some slight quality issues.
Conclusion
So yeah, it seems that the Ring to Cage boxing gloves are truly great. They could even be the best training gloves that Ring to Cage has ever produced as of yet!
Being very similar to the Winning training gloves in terms of quality and comfort, albeit not as good, the C-17 2.0 is definitely worth the money. If you, as an experienced boxer, have been looking for quality training gloves, then these may be the very best choice for you.
