Fighter UK - Boxing Equipment Shop

Welcome to Fighter UK. Here at Fighter UK we offer a huge selection of boxing equipment and accessories, from rings and ropes to boots and shorts. We stock all the leading brands including Adidas, Hatton, Lonsdale, Pro Box, Rival and many more.

If you don't want to buy online, why not book a visit to your local club? click here for more information.

Boxing is commonly known as the "noble art" to the general public and fight enthusiasts all over the world. Traditionally boxing has been a male dominated sport and has been since the very beginnings of the sport that reach back into the Roman and ancient Greek eras in history and beyond.

Man has, since his very beginnings, had to become proficient in self defence to protect his livelihood from other men, and by our very nature, man has always sought to assert dominance in society by way of aggression. Boxing has, as such, enabled man to exploit his thirst for violence in a controlled environment and enabled him to express his alpha male primeval urges in a way that is competitive, disciplined and character building. During modern times boxing has been broken down into a number of rounds, depending on which code of sport, so that competitors are able to take a rest in between bouts of vicious and competitive combat and so that they may take tactical advice from their coach and corner men.

Amateur Boxing generally consists of 3 X 3 minute rounds of fast paced boxing action, where competitors aim to score points to overcome their opponents and win the contest. Opposite corners wear either Red or Blue vests, head guards and are also required to wear 10 oz competition boxing gloves. The standard size of an amateur boxing ring in the Olympic games is 24 FT. Points can only be scored from direct hits from the knuckle whites of the gloves to the front of the torso, stomach and the head. Amateur boxing is not a sport where boxers are paid to compete, it tends to be viewed as a more "Grass Roots" form of boxing where competitors compete for the love of the sport and also to gain valuable experience in the view to becoming a successful professional boxer.

Professional boxing is a completely different code of boxing to the amateur game, in the respect that it has different governing bodies. The rounds are 12 X 3 minutes opposed to 3 X 3 minutes and there is a greater emphasis on knocking out or physically punishing your opponent than there is in amateur boxing. The gloves are smaller also, at 8 oz and there are no vests or head guards permitted to be used during a professional boxing contest. Perhaps the most significant difference between the two codes of boxing is the fact that professional boxing is a money oriented sport, where boxers are paid sums of money to box in contests which is generated through ticket sales and Television revenue deals.

A winner in boxing can be either decided by a knockout or by the winner on the judges scorecards, occasionally the doctor may have to intervene due to injury and the contest will be stopped promptly. During the early career of a professional boxer's career, the referee will be the sole judge on who is the winner of a contest, this is generally to allow shows to run quickly and smoothly between contests without too much delay, but all championship bouts go down to the judges scores around the ring if necessary.

In the ABA of England (Amateur Boxing Association of England), Olympics or World Championship tournaments of Amateur boxing (British Amateur Boxing Association), computer scoring is used where three of four judges must recognize a scoring blow for a boxer and register it on a button which registers which colour has landed the scoring blow, one point is awarded for a single scoring blow.

In professional boxing, rounds can be decided where a boxer initiates more industrial aggression to force the fight or by a knockdown. Judges score cards are tallied up by how many rounds a boxer has won and called out at the end of a contest.

Boxing originated firstly when man hit another man with his bare fists in combat. However, gloves were first developed as such when the ancient Greeks decided that thin layers of leather, made from dried out animal hide, were best worn over the top of a combatants knuckles, in order to prevent lacerations to the skin surrounding the knuckles and to limit damage to the bones of the hands and wrists. The Ancient Greeks, infact, invented boxing in the Olympic games as they believed that fighting was a sport that was participated in by one of their ancient gods, Olympus, so then heralded the Olympic games in the eras between 687 to 690 BC.

Ancient Rome took the sport to a new level of savagery in the respect that metal plates were used to cover the competitors knuckles while they fought in the great arenas of ancient Rome. These battles tended to end in severe injury to the fighters or more commonly ended in death.

Boxing has thrived ever since, particularly in Britain from the early 17th Century where championship bouts were held, even though there was little by the way of any organisation to regulate it. It was particularly popular with the lower classes and working class men during the Industrial Revolution. Prizefighting, whereby fighters fought for money, was growing ever popular and the brawls that ensued didn't resemble anything like the modern day sweet science of boxing that we all know and love, but more of a vicious battle of attrition organised in muddy fields, old barns and hidden away buildings.

The square boxing ring was invented by a heavyweight champion Jack Broughton from England, who established a set of rules that was recognised in 1743. Rules that we recognise today such as no low blows and no eye gouging were installed and all fighters competed with bare fists, as boxing gloves were not used during this time.

The Marquis of Queensberry rules established the new set of rules for boxing that we now know as "The Queensberry Rules". The use of gloves under the Queensberry rules became necessary and rounds with 1 minute rests were established to give structure to the sport itself. Bare Knuckle boxing was still rife, but not as established as it once was, as a lot of the top contenders defected to the new Queensberry rules. Great fighters from this era included John L. Sullivan and James J. Corbett, who set the tone for this new era of professional prize fighting.

Weight classes commonly known during the modern ear of boxing run up from lightest to heaviest as follows: Straw weight, Light fly weight, Fly weight, Super fly weight, Bantam weight, Super Bantam weight, Feather weight, Super feather weight, Light weight, Light welter weight, Welter weight, Light middle weight, Middle weight, Super middle weight, Light heavy weight, Cruiser weight and finally Heavy weight. Great champions throughout the weights during the modern ear of boxing include, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Joe Calzaghe and many more.

Boxing equipment as a whole has evolved and developed throughout the ages to accommodate the needs of combat athletes and protect them as much as possible from severe injury and death in the ring. From the earliest thin skin hand wraps up to the modern day foam injected - cow hide leather gloves, boxing equipment has been forced to develop through time just as the sport has changed in itself. Cleto Reyes, Lonsdale and Everlast have traditionally been the flagship pioneers in developing and producing boxing gloves since the companies began many years ago. However, in much more recent times companies such as Adidas and Reebok have branched from their specialist niche in sports clothing and began developing boxing gloves among other boxing necessities. Head guards in more recent history were introduced, mainly for sparring and injury prevention purposes during training, although they have now become a mandatory piece of equipment that must be worn during Amateur Boxing contests. Boots are another piece of equipment that have become an association to the sport through their unique appearance and differentiation from the footwear of other sports. Boxing boots have traditionally been high cut, laced and leather boots. In more recent times however, companies such as Adidas and Lonsdale have specialized in developing boxing footwear and bringing it into the 21st century with modern materials and aesthetics.

There has been a rise in other companies developing their own brand of uniquely constructed boxing equipment, with sponsorship contracts being assigned to fighters doing well within the boxing industry. Amir Khan is famous for being associated with Reebok boxing, as is Carl Froch for being equipped with Lonsdale Boxing equipment. Some Fighters have, upon retirement, ventured into developing their own brand name of boxing equipment, with the idea that their name will carry the brand higher up in it's popularity. A great example of this is Ricky Hatton, who upon retiring from a very successful and popular boxing career created his own Hatton brand ofboxing equipment, which has shown to be among the others, a brand of high quality and commitment to the development of boxing equipment. Pro-Box has been a favourite brand of equipment for professional and amateur boxers in recent years particularly since they were formed not only to develop equipment for the individual combat athlete, but also for clubs as a whole.