- Protection
- Visibility
- Comfort
- Price
Protection
First, we rate boxing headgear based on the protection offered.
As a baseline we check that the headgear properly covers your forehead, cheeks, and ears for shock absorption and protection against cuts and eye damage.
When reviewing head gear, we keep in mind that there’s a tradeoff between padding and visibility. Having more padding doesn’t necessarily mean more protection if you’re getting hit more because you’re having trouble seeing your opponent’s attacks.
We apply this to the optional nose bridge as well. Though it protects your nose from punches, it blinds your peripheral vision to uppercuts.
Visibility
Next, we rate boxing headgear based on visibility.
As mentioned before, when reviewing headgear we weigh the tradeoff between padding and visibility.
There’s a cutoff point where adding more padding will actually reduce protection since your visibility is reduced.
When considering a headgear’s visibility, we consider not only forward visibility, but also peripheral. This is important for seeing your opponent’s attacks coming from the side.
Comfort
Next, we rate boxing headgear based on comfort.
We see if a piece of headgear fits well without needing to keep adjusting it since sweat will encourage it to slip.
We recommend a headguard if it’s tight, but allows heat to escape and air to circulate at the same time, while allowing your head’s full range of motion.
We note that since everyone has a different head shape, comfort will change from person to person for each headguard. As a general rule of thumb, the best headgear should feel like it is a part of your face.
Price
Lastly, we rate boxing headgear based on price.
With headguards, price directly relates with quality since this affects your health and wellbeing.
While you could skimp on boxing shoes or hand wraps, here we recommend products that maximize value with your protection and longevity in mind.