Hello all, this is a lengthy review (for all my overthinkers) of my 16oz Periwinkle Select Lace-Ups. I've had them since early September. I train 2x/day 4x/week, with each session being high intensity. Overall, about 210-250 hours strictly in these gloves.
Since my greatest issue is the finger compartment, I'll list my hand measurements. Hand Cir. - 8 3/4" Hand Len. - 7 1/4" Longest Finger Len. - 3"
The finger area is extremely snug. I haven't had any finger jamming yet, but I can feel that I'm right on it's cusp. If your fingers happen to be longer than 4", then you're out of luck, big dog. As far as the thumbs, it's great. Coming from the Fairtex BGV9 (pictured), which had too much space in the thumb, resulting in jamming. The select's (very soft) thumb compartment has this quirky anatomy/padding to it that locks my thumb in a very tender yet firm manner. This glove does have a grip bar, which only makes the length of your fingers more vital to your satisfaction with this glove.
The padding on the palm is very thin, to the point where you can acutely feel your finger delicately caressing it. I do really like this though, as it gives the glove a very tight-to-hand, minimalistic fit. The padding on the top side is greatest around the middle of the fingers, so if you're looking to land straights with perfect form on your big knuckles, you'll end up hurting yourself. However, because of that same reason, these give my knuckles unmatched comfort when throwing hard hooks & body shots. Take that as you will.
The stitching looks great. Besides a single IP found around the wrist, I'm genuinely surprised it's not worse, given the amount of consistent damage these go through. Leaving out some small wrinkles around the nails, the liner fabric inside feels the same as it did on day 1. I will say, after every session, I put them on a shoe/glove dryer, and I'm sure that has had a positive effect. As for the outside of the glove, I've noticed the paint (dye?) rubbing off around the inside thumb. I'm not sure how it's gotten so bad in that specific spot, yet it looks flawless on the spots that have actual hard contact. Once it started, the rate at which the dye rubbed off increased exponentially, not quite sure what's up with that. The rest of the glove looks great, no bubbles or warping.
Along with its minimalistic look, another part of the reason I was attracted to these was the slimness of the glove. I've been in front of Everlast, Cleto, Spartacus, GT, Fairtex, NBNL, and some others. And unless I'm being blindly biased, I haven't seen any glove that has had the potential to fit through a guard more than this one.
For those who care about the accuracy of the oz, mine weighed in at 17.1 oz with lace converters. If others are correct on the weight of the converters, it would actually weigh in around 15.5-15.9.
With everything being said, if you don't have at least a minor passion for boxing, I wouldn't spend the $$ on these. You could find a cheaper option with it functionally being the same experience for you (TopBoxer, Sting, Wicked). For those not in that category, by all means, I do indeed believe this is a great glove. An excellent long-term choice for those who train to their limits consistently.
Given that 5 is average & 10 is perfect, I would rate these a healthy 8.4. My issues are: a short finger compartment, the bulging piping on the forearm, and the dye coming off along the thumb. MK1 does carry a 180-day warranty on their gloves...Maybe I should try that if it becomes too unsightly.
(14oz Fairtex BGV9 (Mexican-inspired puncher glove) vs 16oz MK1 Select)