Rival Boxing Gear

Rival Boxing Gear is a Canadian company and global market player and market leader in the boxing gloves and boxing training equipment market. Rival Boxing Gear offers innovative and stylish boxing gear designed by people in the boxing world for people in the boxing world. Our entire boxing line is designed based on extensive research and in-depth knowledge of the sport of boxing. Only the highest quality materials are used.

"At Rival, the belief is that while other companies are businessmen trying to infiltrate the boxing world, Rival is proud to be boxing people trying to infiltrate the business world."

The beginning

Rival was founded in 2003 by veteran boxing trainer and seasoned cutman Russ Anber. Rival entered the market with the promise of reinventing this boxing equipment market with innovations drawn from Russ's 25+ years of boxing experience. In addition, Russ had more than 10 years of experience in offering and selling foreign boxing brands on the Canadian market. When Rival's first order came in for USD 2000, Russ promised that every subsequent order would be larger; and so it happened!

From the very beginning, Rival has been a brand that focuses on the high-end segment of the (semi)professional boxing market. There are countless brands that sell cheap boxing gloves and gear, but this is not the market that Rival is targeting. Rival's goal is to bring the very best boxing gloves and boxing gear to the market that all top amateurs, professionals, gyms and boxing trainers can use with complete confidence.

“By Boxing People For The Boxing World”

The evolution

Rival's recipe for success is characterized by the excellent quality and durability of their products. The great products and results are all achieved without copying other brands or infringing on other people's patents or intellectual property. Since the start in 2003, all products have been based on original ideas that have been molded into unique, innovative designs.

From that modest initial production order of USD 2,000, Rival has grown into a full-fledged and respected global brand with stores, offices and employees in 4 countries: Canada, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. In addition, they have full partners in 7 major boxing gyms, 4 of which are in Canada, 2 in the US and 1 in Spain.

Rival Boxing Gear around the world

After building a solid reputation in the Canadian market – operating from Montreal and Quebec – Rival began expanding into the United States and opened an office in Las Vegas in September 2014. Not too long after, a headquarters in the United Kingdom followed in July 2017. This was followed by the Australian office in July 2019. Each Rival branch is proud to be run by staff with an (active) boxing background, as well as staff with whom Rival has built a long business relationship. All staff have confidence in Rival and Rival in turn has confidence in their skilled staff.

Rival in the ring

The list of fighters who wear or have worn Rival's extensive collection of boxing gloves, training equipment and clothing is extensive. Former WBC light-heavyweight world champion Jean Pascal was the first to dry Rival's boxing gloves during a world title fight on HBO. This was followed by many (world) champions including: Antony Joshua, Vasiliy Lomachenko, Oleksandr Usyk, Keith Thurman, Artur Beterbiev, Eleider Alvarez, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, Oscar Rivas and countless others.

All these great fighters and champions have put their trust in Rival's famous RFX-Guerrero Pro Fight Glove. These boxing gloves are widely regarded as one of the best – if not the very best – boxing gloves in terms of protection and fit. This is the crown jewel in this fantastic company's great product line.

Rival in the ring – round 2

The custom-made boxing clothing and accessories have now also received the attention of the entire boxing world. What started as an occasional production order has grown into an industry with worldwide demand.

One of the greatest moments in company history is the match between Tony Bellew and Isaac Chillemba in 2013. Both fought in complete Rival equipment and wore Rival Pro Fight gloves. Another great memory is the fight night in July 2018 at the very first Ali Trophy, where Oleksandr Usyk and Murat Gassiev both fought with Rival boxing gloves during their match for the WBC's undisputed cruiserweight world title.

“Every single member of the Rival team is bound by the commitment to excellence and innovation that have always characterized everything that Rival does. We are boxing people!”

Innovating since 1980

Throughout his life, Rival founder and CEO Russ Anber was fascinated by designing, improving and customizing all kinds of sports equipment, especially for boxing. Russ was always looking for adjustments and improvements that made the products perform better. Russ started selling boxing equipment and gloves in the 1980s to sponsor and finance his amateur team. It didn't take him long to realize that little had been improved in boxing gloves and training equipment in all those years.

“Maximum Protection, Minimum Obstruction”

Early in his career as a boxing trainer, Russ was constantly improving the materials he used during his training. Around 2000 he felt that it was time to shape these innovations and designs into a business form. In 2003 he officially started the Rival Boxing Gear company and knew that this was his opportunity to implement all the ideas he had gained over the previous 20 years. Rival has patented many unique designs and below is a list of some of the most important patents that Rival introduced to the world.

Patents & Innovations

• Air Cushion System
• Angled Lace Track System
• Conic design
• Ergo design
• Ergo Lace Track System
• Ergo Strap System
• Ergo Strap XTREME system
• Ergonomic True Fist Construction
• Feather Lite
• Intelli-Shock D30™
• Parabolic design
• The Wedge
• Wrist Bolt
• Wrist Lock
• Wrist Lock 2

“Classic Mexican Design Meets Modern Tech”