Padding VS Visibility

Increased coverage and padding almost always comes at the cost of visibility. So find your tradeoff. Being a high speed lightweight, I find visibility to be especially crucial to fighting. I generally like headgear with smaller cheek protectors and then find the most padded one that isn't too heavy or too bulky. If you're new to boxing, you'll have to experiment until you know how much padding & visibility you like.

Buy Your Own

You can save money by using the community headgear at your boxing gym but there are good reasons to have your own. It's gross to put on headgear with someone else's sweat on it. Sometimes it's more than just sweat; there's blood or even blood stains.

Your own headgear will always be adjusted for your head so it fits perfectly everytime. Using the gym headgear can be a hassle because it might not fit right and/or the one you want is currently used by someone else.