Who can educate me on thumbless boxing gloves?

[Xyei]

I can't remember which fight I saw them in but I was watching some older fights a year or two ago and saw a fight with thumbless gloves. It was a heavyweight fight from the 80s I believe. Does anyone know when the were used and if they are still used? It seems like I never see them anymore in modern boxing. I'm also interested in why they were used, advantages and disadvantages. Were they only used in heavyweight fights?

Thanks in advance..

[BattlingNelson]

ISTR thumbless gloves being tried in order to minimize eye injuries sustained from thumbs. Its possible that it was related to Leonard suffering a detached retina but of that I am not sure.

In any case the idea of thumbless gloves never really got off.

[Xyei]

You were right about Leonard. He did like them and used them after the detached retina. Here is an interesting article about why they never really took off in spite of being considered, by most, to be the safest boxing glove.

I also realized that it was early Tyson fights that I first saw them in. He used them in many of his early professional bouts.

http://www.thesportsdoctor.com/hiddenthumb.html