Muay Thai Gloves vs Boxing Gloves
This is our comparison of the Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves and Venum Elite Boxing Gloves.
Boxing and Muay Thai are different sports, and both have different requirements. Thus, even though both pair types can be used for training types, you will find crucial differences and below, you can find all about them and our experiences as well.
To make your life a little bit easier and to put the boxing gloves and Muay Thai gloves debate to rest, this quick guide will try to outline some of the key differences between them. Hopefully, by the end of this guide, you have learned how to make the necessary distinction between them and realize which ones you like for your training.
At a Glance
On the other hand, Venum has been making a good quality boxing glove for a few years now and is one of the most highly sought boxing glove companies in the world today, particularly when it comes to modern gloves and MMA-style gloves. The quality of their gloves is mixed, depending on how much you pay. The average quality sits perfectly in the okay range.
You see, the Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves is perfect for people who want to practice their Muay Thai, while the Venum Elite Boxing Gloves is, of course, perfect for people who want to start boxing. These two have unique uses and different features.
If you want to know the difference between Muay Thai gloves and boxing gloves, then let’s get started.
What are the differences between Muay Thai gloves and boxing gloves?
The major difference between Muay Thai gloves and boxing gloves are in the glove’s flexibility when you clench your fist, the position of the thumbs in the Muay Thai gloves, how far the glove rides up past the wrist on the arm, the padding around the wrist area, and the weight distribution of the padding areas.
Muay Thai Gloves
Muay Thai gloves are much flexible when you clench your fist and less rigid compared to a boxing glove. That enables you to grip and grab better with your gloves. The thumb may be in a different position to enable a better grip once you squeeze the gloves. That is to enable clinch work during Muay Thai fights.
Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves provide their standard adult boxing gloves in a wide array of colours and in sizes that range from ten to fourteen ounces. They feature gel-injected foam and Maya hide fabric, a synthetic leather that is recommended to be extremely durable.
The Elite Sports is a good all-around bang-for-buck glove. They aren’t “the best,” but they aren’t far from the worst. You will find these worn by some of the best Muay Thai fighters in training to those brand-new beginners.
On the design front, Muay Thai gloves have the thumb area directly molded into the actual glove frame instead of being stitched on separately. You will sometimes find the shape of Muay Thai gloves a bit more top-heavy and square in the front area than those of boxing gloves, along with less of an “angular tapering from wrist to fist. You will also find a difference in the weight distribution.
Take note that Muay Thai gloves aren’t as aerodynamic for fast punching combos such as boxing gloves due to the weight distribution. That might change based on the brand.
Boxing Gloves
On the other hand, boxing gloves do not have more flexibility and are more likely to be much rigid than those Muay Thai gloves every time you put them on. The thumb position may or may not be different compared to a pure Muay Thai style glove, depending on the manufacturer, with the thumb area stitched on separately instead of directly part of the glove mold.
If you are seeking a reasonable but superior quality boxing glove, theVenum Elite Boxing Gloves is a great entry-level choice for people who do not like to commit too much money into purchasing their first-ever boxing glove.
While there’s a selection of superior quality pure boxing gloves you can choose from, the Venum Elite provides you with the best bang for your money. Rather than spending $300 on a pair of boxing gloves, you can get a good pair of Venum Elite gloves for $65.
Apart from offering amazing value, Venum Elite boxing gloves feel great. They have been one of the top boxing brands for many years now, and for great reasons. They create a top product that is created specifically for boxing.
If you compare the shape of the Venum Elite boxing gloves to other Muay Thai gloves, you will notice a huge difference in how the glove is formed. Such gloves are created to be utilized purely for punching and nothing else.
If you are in the market seeking to find a pure boxing glove, then the Venum Elite boxing gloves are a good option. Nonetheless, if you are searching for a more versatile glove to use in your Muay Thai training, then we would surely suggest sticking to Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves.
Comparison
We are now going to look at some of the major differences between Muay Thai gloves and boxing gloves. Please remember that these guidelines are accurate, but there are many variations between gloves. That’s why it is essential to check out reviews of various gloves to ensure you invest in the correct pair of gloves that is right for you.
The Palm
The major difference between how Muay Thai and boxing gloves is down to the use of the palm. When it comes to boxing, the palm of the hand is utilized for parrying shots, but in Muay Thai boxing, the fighters should grip during the clinch, catch and hold kicks with the hands.
Because of such differences, standard boxing gloves like the Venum Elite Boxing Gloves are rounded at the fingers to help make a more natural fist. That’s noticeable with this type of boxing glove. Sometimes, a lot of boxing gloves feature breathable mesh across the palms to support ventilation. You will find many variations across globes, with others fairly stiff and others simpler to open the hand with. Nonetheless, they all strive for that perfect clenched first position.
On the other hand, Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves are more likely to mold the padding, so the palm of the hand is pretty much open. This pair of gloves are created with less of a bend in the fingers, while some gloves prefer to increase hand use by eliminating the grip bar as an alternative.
Winner: The Venum Elite Boxing Gloves
Padding
Keep in mind that padding is the core aspect of any glove. You see, gloves are padded to safeguard the opponent from the direct force and lessen the risk of damaging the player’s hands. The source of impact in every sport is different as well. That’s why the area that is padded is quite different, too.
Boxes utilize their knuckles for throwing a punch. That’s why it has the most well-padded area. Other boxing globes have padding as well to avoid damage to the palm’s side. It is a normal practice as most boxers like gloves that are not padded around the palms and the wrist.
The Venum Elite Boxing Gloves belong to Velcro gloves. Other gloves are laced up, offering more padding on the palm as compared to the Velcro. Overall, the Venum gloves are well-padded in the thumb and knuckle area and have little to no padding in the wrists or palm area.
Meanwhile, you will find that Muay Thai gloves have more padding that’s evenly distributed. Compared to boxing gloves, such gloves offer less padding on knucks and more on the back of the hand. The science behind such a good design is that Muay Thai fighters in combat should stop themselves from the kicks. Therefore, these gloves are created to stop or parry the kicks more so than putting emphasis on landing the punch.
Another key difference is the all-embracing padding on the sides to avoid heavy injury from incoming elbows. Like boxing, the Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves have entry-level budgets and premium models. The premium Thai gloves feature padding at the bottom of the palm to safeguard against risky kicks like straight-up knees to the head or a spinning kick.
Winner: Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves
Materials
The purpose of these gloves hugely differs. Thus, the materials utilized to create them differ too. For example, boxing gloves are totally punching gloves, while Muay Thai gloves are equipped for defense.
Keep in mind that no boxing glove is the same. That indicates that each of them can have a unique material either in the padding or on the top. The skin of a boxing glove is a tanned leather. But if you go for a lower-quality glove, you can also get vinyl ones.
The Venum Elite Boxing Gloves is made from premium Skintex leather, handmade in Thailand, for truly Elite level quality. Most professional and amateur competitions oblige the participants to wear leather gloves. Even in leather, you will find a few manufacturers using nylon taffeta with a layer of leather n the top.
Hence, that all boils down to the quality and the material utilized. The Elite model was conceived and remained to be manufactured in Thailand.
On the other hand, the Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves are made from leather. These gloves are nowhere near the quality of premium boxing gloves, especially if you were to use them mainly for boxing. When we talk about the padding, these gloves are good. Even though the material is quite the same to that of boxing gloves, Muay Thai gloves are more flexible and are created, keeping utility in mind.
Winner: Venum Elite Boxing Gloves
Style and Shape
As mentioned earlier, the use of the fist differs in both forms of fighting. Boxing is totally based on fists, while Muay Thai relies massively on grappling. Therefore, if you consider the style and shape of these gloves, they are miles apart.
Indeed, it is challenging for a general audience to determine the difference between a Muay Thai glove and a boxing glove. Still, the difference is massive. Let’s understand how we can segregate boxing and Muay Thai gloves based upon the style and shape.
The fists play a crucial role in a boxing match. Thus, extreme emphasis is laid on offering gloves that can provide powerful and dense punches while safeguarding your hands. That is why the Venum Elite Boxing Gloves have a rounded shape, particularly at fingers, to create a natural fist.
Nevertheless, it is not only the fingers that Venum Elite put huge importance on but the wrist as well. These boxing gloves are more likely to have a bigger cuff region that fits smoothly either with Velcro or lace. That is done, bearing in mind to make gloves feel as if they are a natural part of your forearms.
Another obvious aspect of boxing gloves is that they do not have a uniform weight distribution, as noticed in Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves. They have a huge emphasis on the wrist and knuckle region and not that much on the palm.
On the other hand, Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves look like boxing gloves, but it has some major differences. The Elite Sports Muay Thai Gloves are less rounded and less square, which is the total opposite of what you learned about the boxing glove.
Remember that Muay Thai gloves are not as aerodynamic as those boxing gloves, as they are not made for fast combinations. Based on that factor, you can learn why the weight of such gloves is more uniformly distributed than boxing gloves.
Muay Thai gloves have a unique role as compared to boxing gloves. That’s why their style and shape vary a bit. These gloves are much more open in the palm region to deliver enhanced flexibility to the fighters. Comparatively, such have smaller cuffs than a boxing glove as well.
Winner: Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves
Flexibility
The ideal way to differentiate a boxing glove from a Muay Thai glove is by testing its flexibility. Try to open your hand in the gloves. Do you find it too rigid? That is probably a boxing glove. As you may know already, the padding section Muay Thai gloves has is multipurpose, and they cannot be as rigid as a boxing glove.
The Venum Elite Boxing Gloves are rigid. They are made in a way to avoid the wrist from bending while throwing off a punch. That is why the cuffs in these boxing gloves are larger. Even the wrist region is tighter in this boxing glove as compared to other gloves out there.
Moreover, the padded knuckles are the point of the major contact; reducing the padding is the ideal way of lowering the risk of an injury.
Meanwhile, a vital aspect of Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves is flexibility. These gloves are made to enable clinching the first without rigidity. The basic science behind its design is that Muay Thai boxing is all about kicks and clinch. Hence, catching hold of the opponent is a crucial part of this combat.
Flexible gloves and movements enable a fighter to get in a clinch and catch the kicks of their opponents. That is why the Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves do not have a grip bar, so to guarantee maximum flexibility. Easy closing and opening of hands are a vital features, separating Muay Thai gloves from those boxing gloves.
Winner: Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves
Wrist Support
There’s much focus on wrist support in a boxing glove like the Venum Elite Boxing Gloves due to the nature of the sport, which is entirely punching-based. Thus, boxing gloves are more likely to have longer and wider padded cuffs for better wrist support.
The wrists on Venum Elite Boxing Gloves are also tighter and thinner. That helps keep a stiff wrist while punching. Meanwhile, Muay Thai gloves have short cuffs and aren’t as tight. That enables more flexibility, although at the expense of less wrist support.
Winner: Venum Elite Boxing Gloves
Pricing
Pricing is another factor that makes a big difference for casual fight sports lovers. After all, no one wants to invest too much in a pair of gloves that they are not going to use for competitions. Hence, pricing is a crucial aspect of decision-making.
Among these two gloves, boxing gloves like the Venum Elite Boxing Gloves are the most expensive then followed by Muay Thai gloves. Indeed, you will find cheap options everywhere, but when it comes to standard pricing, boxing gloves are surely costly.
Winner: Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves
Which Should You Pick: Boxing Gloves or Muay Thai Gloves?
If you do Muay Thai, then go for Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves. If you are a boxer, then buy Venum Elite Boxing Gloves. However, there’s no harm in having the two of them, particularly if you do Muay Thai, because you can utilize your boxing gloves if you spar boxing and use Muay Thai gloves if you do Muay Thai.
It totally depends on how seriously you take your sports training. We will list individual goals in boxing, or Muay Thai will change what type of glove you must get.
You’re casually training Muay Thai
If you do not have any intention of competing and you do Muay Thai for only fitness and social purposes, the glove you pick does not matter. The differences between the gloves you use will not impact you that much.
You’re on a budget
Are you currently on a budget? Then Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves are your best option. They are a lot cheaper than Venum Elite Boxing Gloves as the quality Thai brands like Venum are made in Thailand with genuine leather and have to be imported as well.
The Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves are around $11.99 to $29.99, so roughly two times half the price of Venum Elite Boxing Gloves. We still suggest buying a boxing glove if you are serious about the sport. But if your first pair is cheaper Muay Thai gloves, then that is fine too, as having different pair of gloves have its benefits.
If you want the best possible results out of the sports
Nothing is stopping you from buying both types of gloves as it is not that costly to do so. Just like with shoes, having two pairs enables you to rotate the gloves and lower their wear and tear.
Both gloves do different things. You can use your 16 oz Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves for sparring and pad work and use your 14 oz Venum Elite Boxing Gloves for boxing pad work and hitting the aqua bog.
Also, having both Muay Thai and boxing gloves is the ideal scenario, as you get the best of both worlds and would only cost around $200 if you purchase the two gloves.
Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves vs Venum Elite Boxing Gloves: The Winner
Overall, the Venum Elite Boxing Gloves are a great buy. You get a modern-style look, reasonable padding and comfortable fit. If you like a more serious, durable and protective glove, you might need to spend more on a different brand or a higher model glove.
The Venum Elite is better than the Elite Sports. We feel given the better fit and feel, the extra dollars are worth the price. Unless you are totally new to boxing, then just go with the cheaper Elite Sports 2021 Muay Thai Gloves.
Nonetheless, if you wish to get into a serious sparring session or plan to compete, then you would like to pick a better glove that will provide better fit, protection and durability.
However, that’s not to say that the latter is bad gloves at all. They’re good enough to perform the job, and if you’re new to Muay Thai boxing, it’s still a good glove to buy.
