Review on Hayabusa Ikusa Charged MMA Training Gloves by Mike Sutton

I think that the fit, wrist tightness, and padding on these gloves is fantastic. The one downside that I'll mention is the chemical odor from the "engineered" leather. Please know upfront that I'm not an experienced boxer and am myself still learning about boxing gloves, but I'll share what I can about this model.I really wish that they would allow these to outgas more at the factory before putting them into a plastic bag for consumers. I could smell them even before I opened the shipping box, and then when I opened up the plastic.they delivered their first one-two punch right to my nose. No joke - it's one strong smell, at least with my pair. It's been over a week with them airing out in my workout room, and the smell is still lingering. It's getting weaker, but it would be nice if consumers didn't have to wait over a week for that chemical smell to go away. I feel for the folks who work at the factory or warehouse.With that said - these are darn nice gloves, at least for my hand size. I have fairly slender hands and my fingers are about 3-3.5" in length. My fingers wrap around great inside of these gloves for a good, solid fit. The fit with my thumbs is also good. The double Velcro straps on each wrist increase the odds that you'll get just the fit that you want around each wrist, and I find them pretty easy to manipulate even when I have one of the gloves on already. The "inner" strap is a little more difficult to work with one glove on, but it's still manageable.I think that the padding is also very good, which I expected in a 16oz glove. To test the amount of padding and force distribution, I repeatedly punched a solid steel dumbbell from different angles (because it wouldn't move and offered angled edges).and I barely felt a thing on my fist or wrist. The gloves kept my wrist and hand in alignment, and the distribution of the force felt good regardless of if I hit on an edge or straight on. These are recommended for sparring, heavy bag, and pad work by the manufacturer - and that seems reasonable to me.The smooth texture of the outer surfaces is also nice and what I expected. Only having these for a little over a week, I can't say how well that will hold up, but I can say that I didn't see any effects at all from repeatedly punching that dumbbell (which isn't smooth, that's for sure). I was checking to see if I could get the engineered leather to tear or cut from that punching, but it held up wonderfully with no signs of being used.Because of my novice nature in gloves, I won't make a recommendation. However, I will say that I'm impressed with the build quality, fit, and padding on these. Just be prepared for that wave of chemical smell when you open the bag.