Back in the days bare knuckle boxers would always break their hands during a match, slowing down the pace of a match as the bare knuckle boxer avoided punching to the head, which is easy to injure your hand on.
Gloves were created to protect the boxer's hand, and also faster-paced matches were they could punch to the head more often. Fighting with boxing gloves helped cut back on cuts and bruises as well.
Gloves have their drawbacks though. Now that boxers could punch to the head more often, it lead to more concussions.The worst injuries in the bare knuckle boxing era were cuts and bruises to the face and broken hands, were as modern gloved boxing concussions and head trauma are the main risk, a trade off if there ever was one.
However, if you are planning on boxing anytime soon, take your gloves with you, since they also protect your hands.
