By James Blears
The World Boxing Council is handing out a directive to its experts to pursue the development of a larger boxing glove to better fit the massive hands of some of it's very large heavyweights.
The WBC expert in this area, Dr. Clive Noble from South Africa, gave a presentation about glove safety at WBC's annual convention, which has this year been held in Bangkok, Thailand.
WBC Silver Champion Bermane Stiverne, the number one contender, told the Governors and deligates that he's struggled with inadequate glove size during his career, so much so that he's twice broken his hands due to the gloves not being big enough to properly fit them. And hand size wise, he's by no means the biggest heavyweight.
In requesting more work be done in producing a glove for the larger hand, WBC Executive Secretary Mauricio Sulaiman proposed that horse hair filling in gloves be phased out. Dr. Noble agreed, explaining that closed cell foam is the best substance for the padding of boxing gloves.
He also urged a semi rigid wrist support built into the glove. Correctly taping of the glove in that area, is also crucial to avoid injury, as well as the correct method of hand wrapping. Mauricio also stressed that the tampering with gloves or hand wrappings is a criminal offence.
The WBC has already produced a poster stressing the importance of properly fitting boxing gloves.
