Padding

This is protective equipment so padding is especially important. I assigned a "Cushion Rating" to all the headgear. The rating goes from 0 to 10. 0 equals nothing. 10 equals invincibility.

I rate the headgear's cushion by my PERCEIVED THICKNESS of the headgear while taking punches. Actual thickness and what it feels like in my hand doesn't matter.

I wish headgear cushioning was simple but it isn't. Some headgear perform well against light punches but terribly against hard punches, and vice versa. Why is this? I'm not certain but I'm guessing the softer the cushion the better it does against light punches. Harder cushion will also take longer to break in but I don't mind this. I'm usually very excited to get in the ring so breaking in new headgear becomes another excuse to get in there.