Boxing gloves have been around in one form or another almost since the beginning of boxing 3,000 years ago. The ancient Greeks used to wrap their hands in leather straps in an attempt to protect them. But these early boxing gloves had no padding, just leather to protect the boxer’s hands. Most people mistakenly assume that boxing gloves have always been around to protect the person being hit. But the bones in your hand are very small and fragile. The padding provided by boxing gloves is both to protect the person swinging and to protect the person at the other end of the swing.
When the Romans adopted boxing as a sport from the Greeks, they unfortunately turned it into a life and death gladiatorial event. They continued to use Greek-style leather straps as gloves. However, they toughened up the leather and attached metal studs and spikes to the straps. As a result, in many ancient Roman boxing matches, the loser ended up dead or permanently crippled.
This was too brutal even for the ancient Romans. They made boxing illegal in all Roman cities and provinces in 30 B.C. C. This disgust for boxing was so great in the Roman Empire that the ban continued throughout Western civilization for more than 1,500 years.
When boxing finally made a comeback in the late 1600s, it was of the bare-fisted variety. However, due to the more civilized approach to boxing, it wasn’t long before boxing gloves also made a resurgence. This time, padding was added. Jack Broughton, who was a British boxing champion in the early 1700s, is widely regarded as the inventor of the modern padded boxing glove. However, these quilted leather boxing gloves from the 1600s and 1700s were only used in practice and for informal boxing matches. The main public boxing matches were still bare-knuckle events.
But people died in these bare-knuckle fights, so something had to be done. Curiously though, boxing rules established in the 18th century and much of the 19th century did not require or mention the use of boxing gloves. Boxers were very reluctant to give up the purity of punching for punching. As a result, in many parts of the world boxing was banned in the 19th century and picked up its sordid reputation that continues today.
The beginning of the end of bare-knuckle boxing began in 1866 when John Graham Chambers in London published the now famous Queensbury Rules. Among other things, these rules required the use of padded boxing gloves for all boxing matches. By the turn of the 20th century, Queensbury’s rules were in use everywhere, and bare-knuckle boxing had disappeared from established boxing events.
The last of the bare-knuckle boxing champions was John L. Sullivan. He lost his championship in 1892 to the first of the Marchioness of Queensbury’s rulers’ champions, “Gentleman Jim” Corbett. Unsurprisingly, the bout was held under Queensbury rules with both combatants wearing padded boxing gloves.
Today boxing gloves are defined by weight. The safer boxing gloves are for both contestants. This is not just because they are more padded. The greater weight means that boxers cannot hit as fast as with lighter gloves.
