What to train in

Do you need this yet?

No. A t-shirt you do not mind sweating through and shorts you can pivot in cover a first class and the first few months after it — what to bring to your first boxing class says exactly that, and nothing in this hub changes it. This page is for the session after the one where your shorts rode up through footwork, or where a cotton tee came home twice the weight it left in.

How training shorts divide

By cut, and the cut is the whole difference. Boxing trunks are long, wide and loose with a high waistband, cut so a deep stance and a pivot do not pull on anything; they are satin or poly-satin, they breathe, and they look like boxing because that is what they are for. Muay Thai shorts are much shorter with slit or flared sides, because a head kick needs the hip to travel further than a boxer's ever does. Training or conditioning shorts are the gym-shorts shape — a 5 to 9 in inseam, a stretch waistband, sometimes a liner and pockets — and they are what you actually want for rope rounds, circuits and strength days. The shorts roundup ranks all three cuts on one rubric and says plainly which cut each pick is for.

What decides price

Fabric and construction, in that order. Entry trunks are a single-layer poly-satin with a drawstring; mid-tier adds a wider waistband, longer side slits and better stitching; the premium end is a four-way stretch woven shell with laser-cut venting and a no-slip waistband, which is what you are paying for in a $90 training short. None of it makes you better at boxing. What it changes is whether you think about your clothes during round four.

The mistake beginners make

Buying boxing trunks for conditioning work, or gym shorts with deep pockets for bag work. Trunks are cut for a boxing stance and flap through a skipping round; pocketed shorts catch a rope and collect sweat. If you only buy one pair, buy the one that matches the thing you do most — for most people starting out at home, that is conditioning, not sparring.