How to Wrap Your Hands for Boxing Competition

When you’re training for boxing, you’ll probably wear regular boxing wraps or gel gloves underneath your boxing gloves for protection and support.

When you compete under the USA Boxing sanction, the rules on what you can use to wrap your hands, and how you must wrap them, are very specific.

Ringside did a particularly good video on this, and it’s well worth watching the entire 16 minute video (and there’s a funny treat at the end).

It’s worth mentioning that they got the rules wrong about one thing. According to the most recent Competition Rulebook, which took effect in January of 2014, boxers are allowed a maximum of 8 feet of tape per hand, not 6 feet as the video mentions. However, you can use 6 feet and still be within the rules.

RIngside Gauze Kit Wrapping Instructions from Ringside on Vimeo.

The excellent innovations in this style

One of the frequently-mentioned things about wrapping for boxing competition is the fact that people used to twist tape to run as this coach twists and uses the gauze. That’s how I’ve been wrapped in the past, too.

I think this method is actually better, because you can tie the anchors on.

In addition, I’ve never used the knuckle rolls, just a really thick wad across the back of the hand. The rolls make MUCH more sense.

Three main things to know

First, you can tape between, but not across the knuckles. Can’t do it. If you use tape across the knuckles, Chuck Norris is forced to hand-feed a baby platypus, and he’s scared of those little guys. Cause you know, the males are poisonous.

Second, you want your padding to stay high across your knuckles, not get dragged onto the back of your hand once you glove up. This method should ensure that the padding stays where you want it.

Tape securely up under that row of rolls to keep it up there.

Third, the rules allow plenty of gauze and tape. The rules allow for 49 feet of two-inch-wide gauze and 16 feet of one-inch-wide tape.

The standard rolls of boxing gauze are typically ten yards, or 30 feet long, so allow yourself about a roll and a half total. And you won’t actually need all that. So you can make some little mummy crafts from Pinterest with the extra. Yay!

And you don’t need to worry about this

This is an excellent video, but this coach is all “You MUST wrap away from the thumb, etc.” Don’t worry too much about that. Some of this is about personal style and preference. According to the rules, you can wrap any way you like, so long as you use the right amount of tape and gauze and don’t tape over your knuckles.

Did you know?

You can also wrap for competition using valpeau now, which I always thought was the stuff we used to call “Ace bandages.” The rules simply state “stretchy cotton with a velcro closure,” and you can use 14.76 feet of two-and-a-quarter inch width. Most standard boxing hand wraps qualify.