Are Sabas boxing gloves still the best deal around? (And are they even close to Winning?)
A year ago, I reviewed Sabas boxing gloves highly without having tried them personally. Street rumors and internet reviews compared them favorably alongside other top brands in boxing…even considered by some,
“the closest Winning clones!”
They were supposedly high-quality gloves “made in Mexico” with beautiful colors and customization available, all sold at a great price. It seemed fair to pass this hearsay along in my boxing gloves review as I ranked them [semi-]blindly at 5th place. While I wasn’t totally familiar with Sabas, I was very familiar with the gloves they were being compared to.
But in the past 6 months, new comments surfaced suggesting their quality had fallen. The guys who once adored them no longer raved about them. Being that I sign my name on every product review I’ve ever written, it was my responsibility to seek the truth.
After ordering my own pair 2 months ago, I’d have to say the rumors are true. Sabas gloves will no longer be in my top 5 picks.
Let’s go over some obvious flaws…
UPDATES:
- DEC 2018 – I’m aware Sabas adjusted their manufacturing since my review. Many people shared my post and I heard some online debates/photos were deleted from Sabas social media. They’ve since updated their piping to “rolled piping” but many quality issues still remain.
- I’ve heard through the grapevine that Sabas accused me of writing a bad review because they didn’t give me free gear. You can read our exact email exchange to be the judge of that.
- I’m not hating on a company but will be extremely critical and brutally honest if I see gear falling below standards. Sorry but not everyone is a winner.
- 2019 – Sabas commented on my site and Youtube asking me to try a newer model. They’ve admitted that their previous models were not the best and now claim they’ve improved. I’m jaded so I’m not gonna buy it again when I didn’t like it the first time. If there’s people out there who have the newer AND older models….do comment below what you feel has changed.
Sabas Boxing Gear – COMPANY HISTORY
Who are they and where are they from?
Pedro Heredia, former USA Veteran and I’m guessing a former boxer himself started the business with his wife and maybe contacts within Mexico somewhere.
They saw a need in the market for quality gloves at reasonable prices and tackled it successfully, going from unknown to being used all over the world within a few years. I can’t say they’re mainstream but many boxers have heard of them. That’s no easy feat for a small company competing against decades-old industry brands like Everlast, Ringside, Title, and Reyes.
Their website and branding are also like their gloves—no nonsense, no fluff or gimmicks…just a solid product at a reasonable price. The bonus is the fun colors and customization options. They hit the market at the perfect time—right when everyone was sick of cheap Pakistan-made gloves, expensive Grant/Winning gloves, or hard-to-find Mexican gloves.
Previously with Mexican-made gloves, you had to wait weeks for them to make and weeks for them to ship. And Mexican glove makers didn’t have fancy websites or product images for you to look at. The most presale info you ever got was a word-of-mouth contact email, maybe a Facebook account, delayed email exchanges in broken English, and some blurry pictures taken from an old mobile phone.
Well now with Sabas, Mexican-made gloves no longer seemed so difficult to buy. Fighters from anywhere in the world could visit a nice site (in English) with tons of color options, fast shipping and great customer service from this boutique glove shop. It’s no surprise at all that they grew so quick.
Previous raving reviews
Sabas started off by imitating the three most prestigious brands on the market: Winning, Grant, and Reyes.
- They built a “SuperSoft” model to imitate the pillowy-cushioned Winning gloves.
- “ProSeries” to imitate stiff-compact Reyes ‘puncher’s gloves’ but with more hand protection.
- And the “ProSeries Prime” to imitate the balanced power-AND-protection of Grant gloves.
And the fans loved it. Many raving reviews came out claiming the Sabas SuperSoft as the absolute closest Winning clones ever made. An impressive feat considering that every company had been trying to clone the Winning gloves. Look carefully at boxing glove design evolution and you can see many gloves copying Winning starting from 15 years ago (probably even before that but I wasn’t boxing yet).
I would guess the reviews were mostly favorable for a good 2 years until about 6-8 months ago when I started hearing quality control complaints. Users who bought the gloves based on my review would send me pictures of their barely-used Sabas gloves tearing apart.
Aside from the gloves falling apart, there was also the controversy over where they were made. Sabas used to be marketed as “Mexican-made” but then became “made in USA/Texas with Mexican materials”. Of course, you always have users asking a ton of questions and trying to figure things out for themselves. In light of all this controversy, I had no choice but to see the gloves for myself.
Great custom service & fast shipping!
Pedro was courteous and friendly in my email exchanges with him. Picking a glove model, size and color was painless. The payment process was quick and easy and my gloves arrived so much faster than I expected. It felt like I just ordered the gloves, did my laundry and the gloves were there already. (Ok ok, it took 2 days and shipped from only 100 miles away from San Diego to Los Angeles.)
On to the review!
CONSTRUCTION QUALITY
First impression – NOT “Made in Mexico”
I hate to say it as Pedro was especially nice to me during the order process but I have to be truthful. My first impression of these gloves were bad. They looked and felt cheap. The first thought in my head right away was,
“Hell no…these are not made in Mexico,
they are made in Pakistan.”
Appearances are everything and if what I saw could tell a story, I’d probably be assassinated for saying it. Here’s the first obvious giveaway that they’re definitely NOT “Made in Mexico”…there’s no “Hecho en Mexico” label anywhere.
All Mexican-made gloves have an “Hecho en Mexico” label. It’s their national symbol of pride. And in fact, it’s the bare minimum you should expect as even the cheapest crappiest Italian leather jackets say “Vero Cuoio” (Made in Italy). But Sabas don’t put that on their gloves because it’s not made in Mexico—why else?
But here’s the other thing: I also don’t think they’re made in the US either. Because if it was, they would have proudly showcased that just as they did with their “US Veterans” label at the bottom of the site and on the order form. “Made in USA” is a common symbol of pride many companies used to promote their brand.
I also doubt they’re made with Mexican materials as I don’t think Mexicans have such an organized system for sending materials elsewhere (they often run out of supplies themselves). Anyway, I wouldn’t have even conjured up these conspiracies if I hadn’t noticed so many peculiarities.
- Emphasis on “Mexican” – they’re trying to brand themselves as “Mexican” any way they can but it seems contrived. They say Mexican parts and American labor…why even bother saying “Mexican materials?” What Mexican material out there offers any advantage? The leather? The foam? The stitching? Probably “Mexican leather” is the only acclaimed material I know about Mexican gloves.
- Lots of stock – all the Mexican brands I know (outside of Reyes) cannot produce so many gloves so quickly and they’re almost always backlogged on orders, whereas Sabas seems to have tons of stock on hand (mass-produced??). Business wise, I feel Western companies tend to gamble on high-volume and idle staff, whereas Central/South America prefers to have low staff, low stock, and be late at times.)
- No images of production facility – glove manufacturers like to show off their factories and how they make gloves. Sabas has none of this. All their pictures are warehouse/showroom pictures (like a typical retailer). They obviously don’t have their own factory, and whoever they’re using is probably not in Mexico. I doubt small Mexican glove manufacturers can produce as many as Sabas sells. I also don’t believe it’s possible to contract multiple shops and keep a consistent look.
- Sabas also sells golf gloves and t-shirts – this is such an obvious tip-off if you know the Pakistan export industry. Many Pakistan leather manufacturers that make boxing gloves also make golf gloves. Also, Pakistan is one of the world’s biggest cotton producers and t-shirt makers.
- Bottom line – way too many inconsistencies compared with other Mexican glove brands. Sabas just doesn’t seem like Mexican gloves. Period.
Moving on…
Cheap leather – looks and feels like Pakistan-made
I was born and raised on Pakistan gloves and can recognize them easily! They have that uniform manufactured look (think “mass-produced”), and toyish/plastic-ey leather appearance. The leather is probably chemically-tanned the Pakistan way which is why it looks smooth and shiny, like a plastic toy. This characteristic is unmistakable with all Pakistan gloves you see from Title, Ringside, and many other brands.
Mexican gloves on the other hand, have a more rugged hand-crafted look.
- Typically very boxy, stiff, rough imperfect appearance, and with a distinct “ugliness” about them.
- Their leather always has a strong smell as well.
- You can see the Mexican leather shows it’s texture/character through the paint whereas Sabas leather is hidden behind the paint like most Pakistan-made gloves.
What does leather texture (smooth or rough) have to do with a glove’s quality? The leather texture has to do with what part of the animal was used and how it was tanned. Soft smooth leather can be a result of either high quality leather and a really expensive tanning process or low-quality leather and cheap tanning process. Judging by the appearance, smell and durability, as well as the rest of the glove, this is definitely cheap Pakistan leather and cheap tanning process.
As you can see, Sabas leather is really weak and tears easily at the seams. When I inspected my brand new pair up close, I can see the way they make the thumb attachment makes it easy for it to stress the leather and eventually tear from there. I think it’s a combination of bad design, poor materials, and low quality control.
Soft padding – like PAKISTAN gloves
Sabas padding is also different from Mexican padding, it’s very soft instead of the typical stiff padding used in Mexican gloves. Of course, they sell it to you like it’s an improvement on Mexican gloves but my suspicion is that they don’t even have access to that kind of padding. If you know Mexican gloves, they always do stiff padding. (If you like Sabas padding…don’t let my review stop you.) For me, it’s too soft and not enough knuckle protection. Feels maybe ok when new but will wear out quickly.
One glovemaker explained to me Mexican gloves are always stiff because of the kind of latex padding they have in their country. And on the other hand, Pakistan gloves are always big/puffy and soft because of the type of injection-mold padding they have in their country. But that’s a whole other can of worms, anyway. NOTE: injection-mold foam is commonly referred to as IMF.
If I could add my own opinion, I would say it’s because of their difference in production volume. Pakistan deals with high volume where one factory makes gloves for many different companies. Therefore, they use machines and have the kind of padding that is done by machines.
Mexico on the other hand usually deals with low volume. Instead of big factories, they have small manufacturing shops (called “maquiladoras”) which do low volume and everything by hand. Therefore, they use the kind of padding that’s easier to cut by hand (which lends to their ugly box-shape). If you’ve ever tried to hand-cut a soft piece of padding (like a memory foam pillow), you’ll know how hard it is to not make it tear in an ugly way. —BUT HEY, this is just my theory. I’m no expert glove-maker.
Nice Stitching – perfect machine work
Sabas stitching looks perfect, which should normally be seen as a positive…but unfortunately in this case, it only further highlights the proof that they’re made in Pakistan for me. There’s a machine-like uniformity in the stitching.
The real Mexican brands have a slight imperfectness about their stitching.
- Some loose threads.
- The double-stitching is also wider in some parts than others
- Sometimes they do only single stitching to save time
- Threads knotted in the middle (as they ran out of thread unexpectedly).
- And other imperfections if you look carefully. (I wish I took better pictures!)
Maybe both are made by hand or both are made by machine, I wouldn’t know. But for sure, I feel like Pakistan gloves have cleaner and more uniform stitching whereas Mexican gloves are typically known for stitching imperfections.
Piping – pretty, but soft and cheap
Here’s another dead givewaway: Sabas has the typical soft piping that you usually see in Pakistan manufacturers. It’s a very soft material, that I think is chosen because it’s easier to work with (easier to cut and color) and looks better but will tear apart quickly with use. Notice how the Sabas piping is really neat-looking. If you see it in person, the material is really thin and folded inward for a much cleaner appearance.
The real Mexican gloves on the other hand use a thicker material for the piping that is more durable but harder to work with and harder to cut cleanly. They simply roll in the edges (further reducing the number of seam edges that can cut sparring opponents). Notice the ugly uneven edges on the inside whereas Sabas tucked away neatly on the inside as well. (You can scroll to the other images above for different angles of the piping.) I feel like I shouldn’t even be teaching them how to copy these details.
Here we see 2 Pakistan-made gloves, one by Title Boxing and the other by “Fighting Sports” (which is still a Title brand). Notice how the thick rolled-piping on the right has some scuff marks but holds up beautifully whereas the cheap soft one on the left is completely torn apart. You may not know this but the glove on the left was only used lightly for a couple years before being saved as my official “Youtube” demonstration gloves, whereas the ones on the right were my heavy training gloves for many years.
Bubbling under the surface – COMMON COMPLAINT
I have yet to see this issue with any other glove brand and upon inspecting my pair, I understood right away why it was happening. The bubbling is due to a thin layer of plastic around the padding inside the glove. I’m guessing their original intention was to seal the inside cushion in plastic to prevent sweat from breaking it down prematurely. The problem is this plastic is so thin (like a grocery store produce bag) that it moves around, getting wrinkled easily and bunching up under the leather…causing unsightly lumps on the outside. It even makes noise inside the glove (literally sounds like a plastic bag in there).
I seriously wonder who the genius was behind this flawed idea. Maybe the inside-lining wasn’t waterproof enough that they felt the need to seal off the foam? Maybe it’s to keep the foam in place or to hold its form? Or maybe it was a well-intended extra effort to make the gloves more durable? We’ll never know.
UPDATE: I’ve since been taught that the bubbling comes from a piece of plastic placed on the foam to make it easier to slide inside the glove.
Style – very stylish and custom colors
Sabas gloves are very stylish with many different color options and also customization. They’re a lot of fun to wear and match with the rest of your outfit if you like. They also do custom headgear and groin protectors as well.
PERFORMANCE (rated from 1 to 10)
Knuckle Protection – 4
Observations from this angle:
- TM has the thickest and densest padding – notice the padding thickness and squarish edges of the padding.
- TM has the thickest/stiffest leather – notice how Sabas leather has more wrinkles because it’s softer/thinner.
- Casanova makes a tighter fist – you may prefer that if you like your hand in a fist position more than open position.
- TM has old-school welted seams – pretty cool! That piece of leather in between the seams helps with its durability.
Overall, Sabas padding is too soft for me. I think any serious competing fighter will punch right through it within a matter of 2 months if not immediately. Get it if you like soft gloves and/or using it for sparring. For bagwork or mitts, I wouldn’t recommend them. By the 5th day that I’ve used these, I could feel my knuckles punching right through them. It’s not only the soft padding but the knuckle angle that makes it impact your fist in a painful way (at the middle knuckles instead of top knuckles). I started hating my Sabas gloves almost the very moment I started throwing hard punches.
Sabas does have other models that don’t have such soft padding. Many people have expressed those are better for longterm use.
Comfort – 7
Sabas gloves have good thumb design, very comfortable! Other interesting observations from this angle:
- Sabas has a normal (slightly-curved) thumb – other thumbs may be straighter or even more curved.
- Sabas has the softest padding – you can see this by how round the edges are. TM has the denser padding and thus, the more squared-edge.
- Casanova’s knuckle padding covers the thumb – whereas the thumb appears more exposed with Sabas and TM. TM’s stiff foam will prevent the thumb from being reached but with Sabas’ soft padding, you’ll eventually hit the thumb for sure if you’re not careful.
- Casanova has a really wide pocket – but thin profile. It’s built like a pancake, good for both blocking as well as slipping shots through opponent guards.
- TM has the stiffest thumb by far – it doesn’t look as curved as Casanova or Sabas. This doesn’t mean it’s uncomfortable!…I much prefer the TM thumb over Sabas in terms of protection.
Sure, Sabas gloves are somewhat comfortable as expected with soft-padded gloves but is it just as comfortable as the higher-end brands and can it fool me into thinking it might be Winning? Hell no.
In terms of comfort in softness, Sabas could be seen as 8 or 9 if you like softness. But in terms of comfort in structure, Sabas is more like a 5 or 6. I don’t feel like it would support my knuckles and wrist under heavy pressure. Maybe it DOES support well, but it doesn’t feel that secure and that’s why I dock it for comfort. I much prefer a stiffer glove that requires some break-in time but feels like my hand is protected in a cast. A glove that doesn’t feel as supportive can definitely affect your punching power and make you hold back.
Wrist Support – 4
Observations from the thumb angle:
- Sabas knuckle padding doesn’t cover the top knuckles well – it covers more like your middle knuckle. TM and Casanova both focus the padding over your top knuckles better.
- TM & Casanova have beefier wrist padding – it’s expected as Sabas is copying Winning with this model whereas TM/Casanova are using the traditional Mexican design with thick cotton-padding in wrist area.
- Sabas back of the hand is more curved (lengthwise & widthwise) – it’s an annoying feeling for me compared to the straighter back of TM/Casanova. Look at your hand and it makes more sense for the glove to be straight in the back and curved in the palm area. Interestingly, Winning is curved in the back as well but feels better than Sabas.
- TM has straight-thumb position – Sabas thumb is more curved, Casanova even more curved (shows better from other angles).
The biggest issue with Sabas is that it feels too soft and floppy at the wrist area, whereas other gloves have stiffer/stronger wrist support. For me, boxing gloves should give comfort not only through its pliability but also through it’s structural support. Sabas does the first one well but not so much the second one. Sabas gloves are indeed comfy but I’m not looking for comfort to go to sleep…I want comfort to go to war!!!
Another big issue I have with the knuckle padding (besides its softness) is the roundness of the knuckle surface. I feel like it’s easier to hit something at a slight off-angle and injure your wrist. I like when gloves have more of that flat-surface feeling in front of the knuckles. (The next image will demonstrate better what I mean.)
This is how bad it is with your hand inside! I swear, I am making the exact same fist shape and wrist position in both gloves. The Sabas glove just bends itself out of position. Horrible design.
- AWFUL WRIST BEND – notice how the Sabas glove keeps trying to bend my wrist out of the proper straight position. I suppose Sabas might be nice if you want to throw hooks but it sure as hell isn’t good for straight punches.
- OFF-PLACED KNUCKLE PADDING – see how the TM padding is shaped so that you impact with the top knuckles? The Sabas padding is curved in a weird way where your fist impacts with the middle knuckles—OUCH!
I did spend some time trying to figure out why Sabas curves like that. The back piece has some kind of structural layer in there that makes the glove bend that way. Also, the gloves feel really flat which makes it more likely to bend. You have to buy a pair and stick your hand in to see what I mean.
I absolutely hate the way the gloves bends my wrist and when combined with the roundness of the knuckle surface, you definitely feel like these gloves make it easier for you to land punches with your wrist bent. With that said, they aren’t unuseable by any means—I was ok throwing a few weak punches at the wall without handwraps. But I can guarantee you will not be able to throw your hardest punches in this glove.
Annoying gripbar – TOO SOFT!
Sabas gripbar is way too soft; feels like there’s no gripbar!
I will never understand how this issue can happen. I never noticed it before in any gloves until I tried Sabas. Most other gloves will have a stiff gripbar in there (feels like hard stiff plastic) and some brands will be a little softer but it’s still rigid enough to support your fist!
The Sabas gripbar feels totally soft like they stuffed it with a cleaning sponge, really strange sensation. Sure, it LOOKS like a gripbar from the outside but totally bends when your fingers try to grip it. I’m not sure if it actually affects my punches in a bad way but its definitely missing the roll-of-quarters feeling, and does make the glove feel less supportive overall.
Are Sabas gloves comparable to Winning gloves? (NO)
Are Sabas anything like Winning gloves?
Sabas gloves are absolutely not at all like Winning gloves. Winning is way more comfortable, more protective, feels more secure, feels way more luxurious, higher quality all around and just completely better in every way.
Winning LOOKS & FEELS like a $400 glove.
Sabas LOOKS like a $70 glove, and FEELS like a $50 glove.
- Winning has better craftsmanship – Winning leather fits more exact around the knuckle bend, and Sabas leather a bit loose.
- Winning knuckle padding extends over the thumb – giving more protection, more like Mexican gloves. Sabas has thumb more exposed, like usual Pakistan gloves.
- Winning has better construction at the thumb seam – also hard to show unless I take really close-up pictures. Sabas seam looks stressed at the thumb area, like either the stitching or the leather will tear (it already has micro tears). Winning looks neat and relaxed.
- Winning leather is much higher quality – you can see Winning leather is so much richer, nice grain and more luxurious texture (click for higher-resolution). Sabas leather is just thin, soft, and looks more like plastic. Not much texture because it’s probably the weak part of the leather and processed in the cheapest way. The difference is night and day when you feel it in person.
- Winning thumb is much more comfortable – Winning thumb is far more ergonomically-shaped, requires much more work to construct (leather wrinkles because of the shaping). Sabas thumb is also comfortable but chokes a little around where the thumb connects to the palm. Sabas thumb is a clean straight cut (easy work). Winning thumb is far more comfortable because of its design whereas Sabas thumb is only comfortable because the padding is soft.
- Winning piping is better – high-quality material, neatly constructed and tightly rolled in. Sabas uses cheap soft material and leaves a small flap on the outside. Sabas piping may look fancier at first but will tear apart and look ugly very quickly.
- Winning has better thumb design – see the difference in thumb design from another angle. Winning’s skinny shape is clever; curving the padding closer around the thumb feels more secure AND more free. Sabas thumb is like most brands, a big fat flap. Most Mexican gloves use dense padding here making your thumb feel caught in a stiff sandwich; it feels “secured” but not in the most comfortable way.
- Winning has more wrist padding – Sabas isn’t bad or lesser by any means; they have other models with more wrist padding, too. It’s a matter of preference how much wrist padding you like.
- Winning more comfortable around the wrist area – nicer padding and more luxurious feel.
- Winning has longer back-hand padding – this is a big one, and I only notice it because I’ve worn so many gloves. The padding behind the hand in Winning extends further down to the wrist, whereas Sabas cuts shorter. I think this is common for manufacturers trying to save on padding and you do feel the difference. Extending the padding lower down the wrist area feels more secure, comfortable, and supported.
- Winning has better knuckle padding placement – HUGE DIFFERENCE HERE! Notice how with the Winning padding stays more in front of your top knuckles. This feels so much better to punch with, providing much more support. The sabas gloves have the awkward curve where the padding impacts more at middle knuckles. I have a feeling the Sabas gloves go out of position for two reasons: 1) the shorter backhand padding gets bent over when you make a fist, 2) the Sabas thumb attachment’s placement to the fingers is causing it to angle that way.
- Again, Winning has better leather – Winning leather has grain. Sabas leather is smooth and plastic-looking.
- Winning has more wrist padding – feels nicer and better around that whole area. Sabas wrist area feels naked and with some thin stiff EVA padding.
Winning boxing gloves vs Sabas boxing gloves:
- Winning has much better leather (you can totally see and feel the difference).
- Winning has better stitching and craftsmanship.
- Winning has better padding, soft but you won’t punch through it (like Sabas).
- Winning is more comfortable everywhere; wrist, hand, fingers, thumb.
- Winning gloves don’t bend the back of your hand or have the weird gripbar issues.
- Winning feels better to punch with, has more knuckle and wrist protection.
- Winning feels much more expensive.
I think anybody would have to be foolish to compare Sabas to Winning. Maybe an earlier Sabas model was more comparable but certainly not the ones I have. They are worlds apart in every area. If you want closer Winning clones, the Ring to Cage’s C17 Japanese 2.0 training model might be ok (although I haven’t tried)…they definitely look more like Winning gloves (wrist design, rolled piping).
Should you buy Sabas gloves?
At the price of $109-129…they are NOT WORTH IT for me!
I would have to say these are not a good buy at $110. $90 is probably more of a fair price for them. If you love the design and don’t mind paying extra for an average glove, sure why not? But in terms of serious use and longevity, I don’t recommend these at all.
They aren’t a ripoff by any means. I would judge 99% of the gloves on the market just as harshly if not more so. Sabas gloves are still nicely designed and stylishly-constructed while still being functional. I just can’t recommend them when much better gloves exist around that price point.
Sorry to say this but Sabas gloves have been officially dropped from my top 5 boxing gloves. With that said, I think their business is still small enough to adapt to the market and improve with time. I’ll be happy to make a new review if their quality improves.
- Check out my Best Boxing Gloves Review
I’ve never seen a more thorough breakdown of a boxing glove. Thank you for the time and effort here.
Thank you, John. Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much for this unbiased review. I very nearly bought a pair on more than one occasion. Seems like Ring to Cage is the better Winning alternative.
I haven’t tried the R2C ones yet but will try it in person soon. At a glance, they definitely look more like Winning gloves (wrist area design, rolled piping).
I bought a pair one year ago. I wasnt surprised at all when i put them on. King boxing gloves were much comfortable than Sabas gloves. And mines dont have the sign Hecho en Mexico.
I feel sad now, should have bought Fairtex or King gloves.
Which King models are you talking about? I have a brand new pair of King gloves that will be reviewed soon and they’re absolutely garbage. Fairtex can be bad, too. I guess it all depends which models.
Bought a custom pair in November, arrived in January.
Stitching was shoddy, the velcro strap was too long, and the leather is showing an unreasonable amount of wear already.
Not what I expected based on my supersofts (early 2017)
Sad to see.
That is such bad news, Gi! Another EB reader bought a custom SuperSoft pair and it looked completely different from the one I got. Would be great if you could share pictures of yours.
Sure. The paint is not holding up well at all, especially as I have barely used the gloves as I was pretty disappointed in the result. I expected a custom pair of gloves to be close to perfect, and the result was a bit off putting, especially for the money I paid for the gloves, shipping and customs.
https://we.tl/OhZMtdYzxg
I asked for EVA padding in the palm of my ProSeries, which is smaller than cotton padding, and I do not think they adjusted the length of the strap, so now I can’t cinch it up like i’d want to for fear of scratching my partners.
When I addressed this issue, they told me that this type of closure is meant to be used on the bag and not for sparring or general training and I was just looking for something to complain about. All boxing and kickboxing gyms in my country use velcro, for everything, so I’m left out to dry. Never had this problem before.
Very disappointing experience, will not buy from them again.
I have a month old pair of pro series triple cuff and a brand new (used once) pair of supersofts.
While it’s too early to opine on durability the pro series padding and wrist support feels excellent to me. Padding was actually very stiff when they arrived but has softened up. Not sure what all the complaints are about….
Then I received my supersofts and agree with most of your points above. Of course I only paid like $60 for them so not too annoyed. And they are very soft. But the wrist feels off – short cuff with strange stiffness. Thumb is less comfortable than the pro series. I’m going to get a few more rounds in with them but definitely not as excited as I was when I ordered.
But really curious if you get a chance to try the triple cuffs if that solves some of the problems you have with the super softs
One big place we’l have to agree to disagree – why all the love for Casanova? I tried them and my results were pretty weak. Support in the wrist was great. Knuckles was fine. The pocket is so wide my hand felt lost in there and i found it harder to make a solid fist (or rather too easy to make a weak fist). Also they are so outrageously boxy I felt clumsy. All that aside they were comfortable and the leather seemed really nice. But then after like 6 months the seams ripped apart. And I was only using them a few days a week for maybe 3-5 rounds on the bag and a few on the mitts. They offered me a discount on my next pair but I got new Sabas for same price.
In the end the old adage holds – you get what you pay for. Should have just bought some Winnings. Which is what I’ll do if/when the Sabas gloves fall apart.
I haven’t tried the Pro Series in person and there’s no double the triple-cuff would feel more supportive as its design allows it to do that.
All the love for Casanovas, I don’t know why but they feel great for me when I throw punches. I will agree with you on their craftsmanship not being so good (padding is bland) but their structure supports my hands perfectly. The shape is awkward indeed but again it works for me so I’m biased in favor of them. I’m sorry to hear the seams ripped apart in 6 months…can you please send me pictures?
Winnings is indeed the best; I bought a new pair 3 months ago and their quality is still really high!
Sometimes, winning a fight depends on how comfortable you are with the gear you are using, so it is better to try different brands of gears to see which is which that you prefer to be using on your fights. For me, I don’t settle on one brand, so I make sure to check out other brands for my fights.
This couldn’t have come at a better time, I was just about to hit purchase…..and the search begins again for something that can protect my doll-sized, bird-bone wrists.
My custom (synthetic) lace up Winning MS-600s arrived a week ago and they are truly on another level. Do it right first time, do it with Winning. No need to read any more reviews, other than out of curiosity.
Seriously! They are not comparable at all. Everyone is wasting time with $100-150 gloves that don’t last as long as Winning. Did you purposely specify synthetic? And did you do it to match the headgear?
To Johnny: I specified synthetic owing to my ethical beliefs about animal welfare. I was getting sick of bad quality gloves and just wanted to get the best. I already owned the synthetic Winning head gear and I love it. So I asked if Winning could make me synthetic MS-600s and they agreed.
To everyone else: I’m only stating this in order to answer Johnny’s question, not to start a debate with you about the moral status of animals or the merits of leather vs synthetic material. So there’s no need to freak out and abuse me.
Hey man, I salute you! I’m serious in a similar place in my life. Loving boxing and high quality boxing gear but would be great if we didn’t have to sacrifice animals for it. Indeed, Winning uses the highest quality synthetic leather and they claim it’s even more durable than leather. I agree with it for headgear but not as much for gloves….mainly because I don’t see how it can breathe.
I admire what you’re doing and totally onboard with that. I’ve tried to research vegan boxing brands but very few of them are made with quality. I thought it would be great to go with other natural but non-animal leather as well (mushroom/pineapple/etc) but have yet to see boxing makers use them. I figured why not make a change in the world and start my own brand? But once I saw the craftsmanship of the top brands out there, I don’t think I can produce a superior glove.
Hey man I’m trying to get the same thing is it more durable than real leather?
Man, more tutorials please not commercial stuff. I seriously did not expect this from this site which I trust.
Mike,
I’m critiquing a brand many users have bought because of my previous high-ranking of them, basically correcting things so nobody else gets fooled. There’s nothing “commercial” about this post…it is a negative equipment review. I don’t make any money from it. No trust has been broken, my ethics for the sport have not changed. All the other equipment reviews I’ve written in the past were also updated to reflect current standings. I still have a few more brand reviews in the works AS REQUESTED BY PEOPLE.
I’m sorry to say…but many of my recent email questions and FB comments are people asking about equipment more so than for technical advice. (And the technical questions they did have were covered in past guides I’ve already done.) If there is something YOU personally would like to see, please feel free to request here in the comments and also have your friends request it as well. I am here to make everyone happy! If people ask about equipment…that’s what I will write about.
More boxing instructional tutorials are certainly on the way. They are taking me forever to write because I’m forced to pay the bills by engaging in “commercial activity” elsewhere. Thank you for understanding and may your future comments contain actual guide requests.
Mike, how is it commercial when he’s saying that sabas sucks. I bet you didn’t even read the review.
I just want to defend Mike’s comment for a second(Kinda). NOT SABAS.
The problem with this review isn’t that Johnny changed his mind. He could have easily said, “The durability isn’t acceptable. I don’t have time to use one type of glove day-in-and-day out for several months to test them. I can only give you my initial opinion of the product.” This would have been a totally acceptable explanation of why he no longer recommends Sabas.
The problem with this review is that he goes into too many details of why the gloves aren’t good. Including saying things like “I was born and raised on Pakistan gloves and can recognize them easily!” That statement should have been in the initial review (along with many of the things in this review) Instead he said “Sabas – quality Mexican-made gloves at a great price, with better padding and customization options.”
Now, from a consumer standpoint, I don’t know whether to trust any of his reviews as it appears:
A. He never really tried the gloves or only looked at them for a few minutes, and/or
B. His credibility comes into question (I surely hope that’s not the case)
This amount of, for lack of a better term backtracking, leads people to question the initial review.
Hi Pete,
Mike’s comment was about me writing about commercial products instead of boxing tutorials. In regards to Sabas, I don’t need to test them day in and day out because they failed my initial test. They aren’t good enough. The reason why I didn’t spot Sabas’ Pakistan-ness in my initial glove review is because their look had changed. I have dozens of other pictures of the gloves they used to send out. There are several telltale differences. And then when I saw recent images not consistent with their old images, I decided to check for myself.
Not sure whether to trust my old reviews? Yes, everyone should question EVERY REVIEW.
I sure as hell questioned my own which led me to update Sabas so much more accurately (and critically) in this updated review. You’re also welcome to ask me specifically as to which models and brands you are curious about and I can tell you exactly how much experience I had with it and around what years. I don’t play around with my ethics towards boxing gear. By all means, please buy all the gloves I reviewed and go through them yourself and compare each one down the list to see how accurate my reviews are.
My backtracking isn’t a sign of deceit; it’s moral responsibility in seeing that my past words are no longer true and owning up to it. I am most certain other brands will be falling off my recommended list as well…just as many did before I wrote the list.
The Sabas gloves you ordered were SuperSofts, right? I agree with everything you’ve said here, and I’ve tried all 3 Sabas glove models myself. However, I will say that the padding in the ProSeries and Primes is actually pretty dense in my opinion.
So is it legal for a company to claim that their gear is made in Mexico (it says so on their website, and I’ve asked Pedro directly before, and he says everything is produced in Mexico) if it’s really being manufactured in Pakistan? Would that qualify as false advertising? Obviously, we don’t know for sure where their gear is really made, and this would probably be hard to prove, so this is all just speculation at this point, but I was just curious if there are laws that cover this sort of thing. By the way, I believe his name is Pedro Heredia, rather than Pedro Sabas.
Hi Andy, I don’t know what the rules are regarding misrepresentation. It’s not like he printed “Made in Mexico” on his gloves so there might be loophole there. And yes, thanks for catching the last name typo…I actually knew that and regularly tell myself to stop calling him Pedro Sabas, haha (and of course I mess it up again). But for sure if you know boxing gloves well, and you have access to many brands (even own many of them) you can see right away.
They are made in Pakistan and cost 30$ to Pedro! Checked on it myself!
Is there any way you can confirm? Not saying you’re wrong but I’d like to see proof.
Thanks for the input, Andy. Yes the padding in the other 2 are expected to be denser. Only the SuperSofts are expected to be “super soft”.
Thanks for the update Johnny. As a beginner boxer, I read your previous reviews and ended up buying a pair of Sabas SuperSofts. I’ve been boxing for about 2 months and thankfully the gloves are still holding up.
I think for a beginner like me I still can’t tell the difference between a quality glove and an average one. Was tempted to buy the Winning gloves at the start but the price was too high for a beginner like me to justify. Definitely will look to save up for a pair of Winning gloves in the future.
Thanks again for all your hard work on this site. It definitely helped me out when I first started boxing.
Thank you for the message, Andrew! Do come back and let me know how those Sabas hold up.
Hey Johnny, I just had my 1st 1 on 1 coaching session with the boxing gym owner (now is his 50s/60s) and he said that I should use 12oz gloves when training/hitting the heavy bag and reserve my 16oz Sabas Supersofts for sparring.
I recall in your boxing glove review that you should still use 16oz for training/heavy bags and was hoping to get your thoughts on this.
Hi Andrew, there’s definitely truth to what he’s saying. Some fighters/coaches like to recommend lighter gloves on the heavy bag/mitts to mimic a closer weight to competition. I prefer heavier gloves for the extra conditioning and hand protection because I’m a hard puncher. Also too, I used community gloves a lot and didn’t always have money to have so many pairs of gloves so going with one pair of 16oz was the most convenient.
Thanks Johnny! I’ll stick to the community gloves for training/bag work for now as the coach said he has a few I could use when I come into the gym.
Will save up for a pair of 12oz Ring to Cage training gloves in the future!
Hi Johnny
I almost buy a pair of Sabs Prime. I read many good feedbacks about Sabas, but something in this brand made me doubt.
First of all THEYR NOT CHEAP
Pair of Sabas Prime 215$
Pair of Winning MS-500 270$
The choice was obvious
I order pair of stunning Black MS-500. What can i say. This gloves worth every dollar.
Dont be fooled about “good and cheap” gloves because in the end you will pay more
Wow. Johnny did you study journalism? Regardless of personal POV- I appreciate your ability to capture important specifics- making them understandable. You may not be a glove making expert- but clearly have an eye for detail.
I made the transition to Sabas over a year ago; been boxing for only 2.5 years. My aim has been to find the best value in a glove: sparring [16oz] and bag [14 and 16oz]. I do not expect a $100 glove to match quality up to a $300-400 version. My take is I’d rather have a rotating set that keeps my hands and sparring partners happy. From that perspective- I can purch 3xSabas gloves for the cost of 1xWinning.
So I compare Sabas to Title/Ringside/Windy/R2C- from that perspective, I feel Sabas represents a better quality and value glove. Especially now since Ringside and Title have raised glove prices +10% [what was $99 is now $119 – $149]
2 other comments:
1- Sabas needs to come clean with country of origin. Simple ethics
2- Sabas quality is inconsistent. I thought that was a reflection of the handmade nature of the gloves [piping/hand compartment size]
Overall the gloves I use are holding up well. Sure if they are mass produced in Pakistan i/o hand made in Mexico I’ll be grumpy. However from the perspective of a competitive $100 glove- I’d still purch Sabas.
Appreciate your insights and effort- looking forward to next year’s review
Hahaha, Eric! I certainly felt like I was doing a Dateline 20/20 exposé writing this review. The more I studied the glove and tested it, the more I kept noticing major flaws. I’m alright with your idea of buying multiple rotating gloves instead of one pair of Winning. I only don’t recommend Sabas for that because they use such cheap quality leather. It will tear easily under heavy use. Torn leather is just a big no for me…it’s like building a house out of bricks that melt under the sun. The leather’s sole purpose is to stay durable so there’s no excuse for cheap leather.
I completely agree with your thoughts on Sabas coming clean. But you know what, they aren’t doing anything different from what most companies are doing…which is hyping up their products to be more than what they really are. It sucks to say but dishonesty is a big part of sales for these companies. And hey, who’s to say that most new boxers are even gonna last long enough to realize their glove quality?
It’s obvious what happen to SABAS. Once they got more orders from previous reviews, they decided to change manufacturers to keep up with the demands. So from Mexico to Pakistan. That’s why u had batches that were initially excellent and now CRAP.
That’s probably what happened! I see pictures of the older Sabas and they don’t look the same!
Did the older version Sabas call out ‘hencho en Mexico’?
Interesting inference regarding Sabas accessories….
Yeah I agree with this too. They probably switched to a higher volume manufacturer in Pakistan and just never updated the section on their website where it says they are made in Mexico. Now they are likely just caught in a lie and don’t want to admit they’re not produced in Mexico anymore.
This is an incredible review. Just incredible. I probably own 6 pairs of SABAS. These are good. I think they changed producers..
They definitely did. I see several differences throughout the years.
I’m an old guy (61) but I still get in my rounds on the heavy bag each week. I purchased a pair of the Sabas Pro Gloves about a year ago to replace a pair of Rivals that actually were holding up pretty well considering their age. The Sabas Pro’s I have are holding up very well and the leather appears to be of good quality and I’ve not experienced any of the issues with tearing, bubbling, etc. I will say that the pair I have appear to have some minor imperfections that might indicate a bit more hand work. The gloves took longer than expected to break in and allow me to make a tighter closed fist (something I will take into consideration when I buy my next pair of gloves as I prefer a glove that is easy to make a tight fist in). All in all, I’ve been happy with the Sabas Pro’s and it looks like I may have gotten one of the better made pairs but would hesitate to buy another pair based upon a dip in quality.
If you want a Mexican-made glove similar to Winning, try Boxeo. They are typically less than half the price of Winning, and there is no doubt that they are genuinely made in Mexico. Boxeo gloves have all the qualities of Mexican gloves that this article touches on, with the one exception being that they are softer and better suited for sparring than most Mexican brands. Only problem is they are tough to find if not in Mexico (Juan aka Technoir from Sherdog is probably your best bet). Campeon is another Mexican brand that makes fairly soft gloves too.
Thanks for the tips, Andy! They are on my list to try next.
Good deal. I’ll be interested to hear what you think. Don’t expect them to look as pretty as gloves like Winning or Grant though…these things are pretty ugly, but ugly in an appealing way. I hear that a lot of boxers in Mexico actually like Boxeo the best out of all Mexican gloves, even Reyes. The thing with Boxeo is they do pretty much no advertising or marketing, I’m not sure if they even have a website, you don’t see their gloves in pro fights (I don’t know if they make a pro fight model glove), and no fancy designs or color schemes…I think I’ve only seen them in yellow or black. I mean even the name of the brand, Boxeo, is just the Spanish word for “boxing”. I think if they were more well known, they would be one of the most popular brands out there. But the gloves are super high quality and feel amazing. They are great for sparring but they also give you really good feedback when doing bag work. I think a lot of people just kind of forget about them or are reluctant to try them because the brands seems kind of boring at first.
I cover Boxeo in my boxing gloves review guide and well aware (and charmed) by their “ugliness”. 🙂
Hello,
Can you go a review of Onx x-factor gloves made my Trevor Whittman? The website is onxsports.com.
They haven’t offered to send me a pair. Onx definitely makes some bold claims about how their gloves work and I think it’s a really interesting concept (hand-molding and all). Would be fun to try a pair.
Yasir Abbas from Pakistan confirmed making gear for Sabas . His company name Supreme Leaders. Just compare his Leaders gear to Sabas it’s identical. Instagram leaders_pk
Wow, looks totally identical! I believe you have solved the puzzle!
I think you are correct…nice job.
I just look es at their site.
My god! How right you are!!
I have a pair of Winnings and a pair of the Sabas Supersoft. The Winning is hands down the better glove by far. I bought my Sabas a little over year ago. There is a crappy stitched seam on the thumb side. Its been through a few hundred rounds of bag, mitt work, and sparring. Holding up well. My partners can feel my knuckles through them a little bit.
The Winning is leagues better in every department after thousands of rounds of work.
Great review! But I must say I do disagree mostly. It is very true the wrist bend is mostly garbage but my two pairs (pro series and super soft) have held up during round after round of hard sparring, mitt and bag work for almost 2 years now. Piping has deteriorated a bit but other wise they look basically like when I got them! But like you said their quality might have changed over time.
Thanks for sharing, Jason. What year/month did you buy your model and do you have any pictures of them?
I fully agree with this review.
I tried on both a pair af SABAS 16 oz SuperSoft and a pair of 18 oz Pro Series (both pairs Velcro gloves).
They were weighting as announced.
The Supersoft was bubbling. The ProSeries was not.
It put them on to hit a punching ball. I put the stem on minimum length, in order to be able to make faster combinations. My observations :
1. The Supersoft have NOTHING TO DO whatsoever with my Winning gloves.
2. The ProSeries are a bit closer to my Cleto Reyes gloves.
3. These gloves do not protect your knuckles that well.
4. You rapidly get SORE WRISTS, in a way which I never got with any other glove.
5. The Supersoft is not only “soft”, but it’s SLUGGISH.
What mean : you can’t chain fast blows. Well, I guess it’s a problem of elasticity of the padding, not only of “softness”. When you hit, the padding does not compress and release the energy FAST, but very slowly. So you can’t chain these punches.
Besides it does not release the energy WELL.
Because, with the same force, the punching ball does not go as far as with my other gloves.
Where does the remaining energy disappear ? Well, I guess in your knuckles, wrists, forearms, and elbows.
6. I do absolutely not recommend the Supersoft, especially for that money. The only thing which can be said is that they protect the knuckles better than my Everlast 16 oz (my first pair of gloves). But the Everlast do not damage the wrists !!!
7. The ProSeries could be used. They are less sluggigh, but still a bit. But they still have the wrists problem.
8. The main pro of these gloves (both pairs) : they are confortable, and nicely snug. I would still suggest to spare a bit more money and buy Winning or Reyes, according to.
To Diego F.
I went on Supreme Leader’s site.
My god! You are ABSOLUTELY right.
It’s a shame. These guys from SABAS are a disgrace to their trade and to the sport.
I’m sorry to say but this has to be the worst review ever made and the one who made it has to have no common sense. You can’t base a whole article on one glove and assumptions, you literally chose the oldest glove that’s been on the sabas website for ages, as a Mexican who has owned Mexican gloves and lives in Mexico (I’ve owned cleto reyes and cleto reyes with extra padding) i can say that the Pro Series gloves are a must buy, much better than cleto reyes, in thumb quality, in leather smell, and hand compartment. And yeah it’s a sad thing to review a glove you’ve never tried, even worse to review a company for 1 glove.
Rigo, you’re either a friend of Sabas or just speaking out of zero experience. If you tried these gloves for yourself along with Reyes and the many other Mexican boxing gloves (WHICH I HAVE), you will know darn well these are not Mexican. You can also follow the rest of the internet complaining and also the scandals about Sabas deleting posts or comments on their social media of people complaining about their quality. I did not try an old model, I tried a recent one. And since then, they have tried to make an even more recent model with slight changes. By all means, you have every right to claim you prefer Sabas over Reyes…but you trying to convince me that they’re even comparable quality is quite amusing to me.
You’re welcome to prove me wrong. Buy both pairs, cut right into them and spell out for me how the Sabas one is better in any way. You’re also welcome to meet up with me in Los Angeles…show me your pair of Sabas gloves, I’ll buy it from you and we try side by side with all my other Mexican gloves. Let me know any time you want.
You’re basing you’re whole article on 1 glove, i only ever tried 2 other pairs of Cleto Reyes, the normal 16 oz ones and The extra padded 14oz ones, and i sold my pair for a pair of sabas pro series, they’re dense and well padded and offer great wrist support, but could be because these are laced and the cleto reyes i owned weren’t, also the thumb is better and longer, and i had to sell the extra padded cleto reyes because when i hit the bag my thumb would hit first and that shit hurt even with the extra paddind my hands would be sore afterwards. And considering i have had these longer than my last pair of Cleto reyes and nothing is ripped in those 4 months it’s all i have to say. I agree with the plastic bag inside the glove though. And I’d totally like to meet you! But i live in the middle of Mexico. And even if they aren’t made in Mexico these pro series protect my hands better than any other mexican gloves I’ve tried. But yeah winning gloves would beat these in every way, those will be my next pair, and I’m not a friend of that sabas guy, my insta is rigo.acosta . Buy a pair and review that.
Rigo, I think you’ve got to be flippin crazy if you’re gonna come on here and accuse me of being biased or only judging based on one glove. Please read my entire boxing glove review guide, word for word and compare the accuracy of my review with all those gloves. I think you’re absolutely misguided for judging me on my supposed disagreement with one brand. I do my homework on everything that I write and do trust that I don’t write anything unless I know for certain. I own about 30-40 pairs and get many brands for free. Also have been in gyms with over 100 pairs of gloves…I get access to many brands. I have Winning already and they beat the crap out of Sabas. I also have many real Mexican gloves which seem NOTHING like Sabas. I secretly think you’re a liar and never tried any real old school Mexican brands….Casanova, Zepol, Boxeo, Classics, Seyer…on and on and on. Sabas is a joke for me. Glad you like them but if you ever want to roll down in LA, I’ll show you my collection and let you judge for yourself. I will happily buy your Sabas pair off of you so we can cut them open on camera and we’ll see where they rank. From inside-to-outside, they look exactly like Pakistan-made gloves for me. How do I know? Because I seen many many gloves for many years.
You affirmed my suspicions which were brought to my attention by a guy who sell “Leaders” brand gloves. I also have a pair of “Leaders” headgear. I didn’t like it. What Mexican glove would you reccomend for training/sparring?
I recently got a pair of Sabas Proseries TC about two months ago that say Hecho en Mexico on the inside label. They seem to be better quality than the pair I purchased two years ago. Maybe they went back to their manufacturer in Mexico? That being said, their questionable business practices have led me to stop being a customer. I did not see this review until about a month ago.
Johnny N!
On on the fence on buying Cleto Reyes extra padding, but I get mix reviews. Have you tried them and what do you think of them
Johnny N!
On on the fence on buying Cleto Reyes extra padding, but I get mix reviews. Have you tried them and what do you think of them
I bought a pair based on the initial review about 2 years ago. I really liked them at first, but the knuckles can be felt sharply when you get hit by them. It took about a month for that change to occur. Other than that I felt like they we’re good in a other areas. I wasn’t happy with quickly the padding wore out. I bought Winning and never looked back.
I also had a pair of Fairtex that started to rip and tear after 1 punch mitt session.
HI COACH!!
I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF YOU CAN SHARE THE NAME OD THE DISTRIBUTOR OF THE BOXEO TM GLOVES HERE IN THE U.S.A??
THANKS AND GREETINGS FOR L.A.
Wow, that’s too bad! In Canada, we don’t have a distributor so I was hoping on picking some up while I’m in LA next month. I’ll still go to their shop to check it out and try to see it for myself. But, I’m glad I read this before I walk in and just buy blindly. Thanks, Johnny.
Is this article about sabas still relevant nowadays? Seems that sabas has renewed its gloves.
Already addressed by my updated note at the beginning of the article (IMO, they’re still lacking). They changed the rolled piping and that’s it. If you still like them, why not buy a recent pair for yourself and compare them against the top brands.
Nah, i want to be on the safe side. It’s difficult for me to try hand on branded gloves from where i come from.
So i rely on reviews.
Hey Johnny, I am Annette from SABAS. I would like to invite you to our showroom. The reason being you keep reviewing these “Clearance circa 2015 gloves.” I promise our gloves are nothing like that these days as we continue to improve on our work, it’s non-stop. Yes that product you are showing wasn’t our best, and we are the first to admit that. If we believed it was the very best we could do, our gear would still be like that, but if you look around it’s far removed from those days. I would really like to speak with you in person about all the inaccurate personal information you are putting out there about us. Maybe you think these things are true, and I want to show you they are not. I would love to show you our gloves in person and have you see that they are nothing like what you believe them to be. You have seen where we started and I would like for you to see where we are now. We only think it’s right to have you review what we are producing now vs something we haven’t produced for 5 years. You have Pedro’s email and mine is [email protected] Please email one of us, so we can meet and clear things up.
Hi Annette,
– I’m turned off by your comments dismissing them as “Circa 2015 gloves”. I bought my Sabas gloves in 2018…only a year and a half old. If you’re selling them in 2018, they are at least “2015-2018 model” in my eyes. Did you improve them on your own accord or because my review impacted your business?
– Are the gloves made in Mexico or Pakistan? (If it is a mix, then explain which ones.)
– Is there a difference in quality in between custom and stock gloves? (If so, please explain.)
– I would also like you guys to apologize to me for telling people I was a disgruntled reviewer because I didn’t get free gloves. I have NEVER asked you for free gloves; I happily paid for them. What I did ask was whether or not you had a military discount (seeing you are a “VETERAN-OWNED company). You told people inaccurate personal information about me (qualifies as slander) and I’d like you to correct it.
– I’d be curious to see your showroom if it wasn’t a long drive away. I’m sure you guys are pleasant people but my issue isn’t with your personality. It’s with your gloves and how they were marketed. They were toted as being “MADE IN MEXICO” and yet everything about them tells me they are not. Not only that but the quality of the gloves I got were really really low. I also had several dozen readers and boxing friends who showed me pictures of issues with their gloves. Most notably that the exterior leather tore open so quickly.
– Being that I had such a bad experience with your gloves and you guys spreading inaccurate information about me, I’m not exactly dying to meet you. I am happy to update my review if I come across a much better pair of updated Sabas gloves but here’s the current issue….if you send me a free pair of gloves, am I supposed to trust it as being one of your regular models and not a specially-customized one to win over my favor? Indeed, me showing up at your showroom and picking a random glove might work. Just know that I’m not coming from a place of hate. Your gloves were previously ranked higher on my site.
It’s hard for me to trust your brand because:
– You guys never acknowledged the issues people had with your gloves.
– Weren’t transparent about where your gloves were made (MEXICO or PAKISTAN).
– Didn’t take care of previous customers who were angry with the service post-purchase.
There isn’t anything that I want from you guys and also not looking for further online debates (whether publicly or privately). If you want something from me or have insightful things to share (that you don’t mind me putting out in public), you’re free to contact me anytime. I’m available on various social media platforms. Thank you for writing and good luck with your business.
Copying and pasting from my comment on the big review:
Full disclosure – I haven’t ordered any Sabas in maybe a year and most of mine are from 2018. I think at one point I owned like 9 pairs (down to like 6 now). The quality of Sabas varies wildly, based on model, size, batch, and possibly date. I have a pair of the first run of the green & gold WBC model SuperSofts. These are some of the best sparring gloves I own, with the wide velcro strap and some of the most protective padding I’ve ever seen. Some (not all) later models of SuperSofts I picked up off of their clearance Instagram page felt way different, with thinner, stiffer padding (suspected them of actually being Pro Series). I have one pair of actual Pro Series and the break in was painful, but now they’re good. In fact they’re so protective on the bags, that I really can’t feel it, so I’m holding onto them in case I get an injury. The padding on smaller gloves like 12oz feels significantly different than on larger gloves like 16oz, to the point that I couldn’t really tell the difference between 12oz SuperSoft and 12oz Pro Series from July, 2018. As far as “made in Pakistan” accusation – my custom stressed leather Pro Series Prime gloves came from Mexico originally and still had Mexican postal information on the interior packaging, so I’m fairly confident at least one pair was in fact made in Mexico. I would say any of the customs and “non-stock” (limited edition) gloves are likely made in Mexico. The others might be made in Pakistan, but TBH I can usually tell Pakistan gloves and I hate them because the padding on the back of the hand & striking surface tends to be very round (probably why I’ve never tried TopBoxer). My good Sabas gloves are still very good: I didn’t get any of the bubbling and barely had any of the plastic liner wrinkles everyone complained about. The bad Sabas gloves I got are either retired or out of rotation. If you’re going to go with them, I’d probably recommend a limited edition glove or going with a custom.
Thanks for this, Eric. From what I’ve seen, the custom or special edition Sabas are indeed different (and possibly more Mexican) from their “stock” gloves. And to be honest, I don’t mind at all when brands make different tiers of gloves. Rival, which I love, has the highend stuff but also the crap stuff for the aerobics/fitness/newb market. That’s ok, just be transparent. Instead they’ve gone the route of spreading negative stuff about me as if I had some personal vendetta against them.
I have a ton of readers and members who send me pictures of their Sabas gloves after 3-6 months of tough wear. The really bad ones come apart after 2 weeks. For sure, there are different levels and the best reviews typically come from the older custom ones. It would be nice for them to just come clean and say, “Hey look. We had some gloves made in Mexico and others that we tried to make in Pakistan but to the same quality as Mexican gloves. It didn’t turn out so well in the beginning but we’ve improved it a lot.” And then on top of that, to clarify the difference in quality but all their models instead of just pricing them similarly while arbitrarily discounting them here and there.
And between them and I, I’d like an apology for the shit they said. They’ve rubbed so many people the wrong way. Deleted posts on social media when people complained or mentioned my review because it resonated with them. I totally believe that you got a great pair. Just as I totally believe my friends who had a great pair. But man, when you see the ones I got…you’re going to laugh your ass off. Sabas has made a fool out of me, that’s for sure. I rank them high…then have to drop their ranking…and some of the internet thinks I’m a glove-review fraud because I had to readjust my review. Lol…do people not know that companies change over time?! (It seems almost inevitable for many brands if you know the history.)
I think I will probably like the Necalli gloves hand design more than winning because I do like my hand in a fist position much more than open position.
Awesome, pick up a pair and let know how it goes for you.
Confirming on what RMZ said prior, Hechos En Mexico tag on the inside of my 14oz Pro Series gloves I just purchased last week. After a good 3 days on my home aqua bag, cobra bag and double end, these gloves seem better quality than what was described previously for 2018/2019.
The leather feel, sheen, and smell definitely doesn’t feel like some Pakistan gloves. I live in California, so this was the best choice of quality glove I could find during Covid times that would get to me fast. Still looking to get the 16oz Supersofts. Anybody bought lately as well? Thoughts?
I had the latest proseries and supersoft (bought in march 2020). I sold them all.
I like the padding, really. The protection is good even though they were velcro.
One thing i didn’t like was the inner linning. It bunch up and clasp between my fingers due to excessive material.
this is a solid reason why one should never comment on a brand which they have personally never used. I am commenting on the first part of this review in which the author stated that they put Sabas in their top 5 even though they had never personally used their product. I simply don’t understand this, as the entire point of reading a review of a product relies solely on that individual’s personal experience using said product, not on what a third party experienced and then passed down to the author who then commented on a public forum about the quality of the product. If someone is going to write a review, the ONLY way to have an accurate opinion on it is to test and use the product themselves. If they rate a product based on another person’s experience with it, then their articles and opinions have zero credibility, period.
That being said, excellent review once you got the actual product and did your personal review. Very in depth and thorough. Nice work.