gloves off or gloves are off means to make an argument even much more serious. for example, two boxers r punching each other very very hard with their gloves on, and then one of them removes his gloves. Now imagine if he punches his opponent, how much more it's gonna hurt the other. To be more cruel in ur strategy. Perhaps u're a businessman and u definitely have alot of competitors. Sometimes, u have to take ur gloves off and be more cruel and harder to beat them down. To cause the most possible damage to their business in order to be on top of them. Additional: IOWA, is a state in the US. gloves off in fight for IOWA means the politicians in IOWA are going extreme to win the voters hearts to be elected.

It is an interesting idiom. It does come from boxing. When two fighters are boxing with their gloves on, they can casue more physical damage than with their gloves off. This is because the weight of the glove is added to the weight of your hand and it can inflict more internal damage. If the boxers take their gloves off, the level of internal damage goes down, but the external damage goes up because their knuckles can cause cuts on the face which can lead to significant external blood loss. Gloves on boxing therefore causes less visible damage, gloves off boxing is bloody and the spectators believe they are seeing much more damage. So, saying that the "gloves are off" in any competition, including a political battle in Iowa, means a bloody encounter which looks, or sounds, ugly to anyone watching. The political fight in Iowa just got ugly with insults and "dirty tactics" becoming the format of the battle.

It comes from boxing. Punching without gloves is far more serious and dangerous than punching with gloves. When a fight gets nasty people "take off their gloves".

It is basically two or more men (or women) fighting for the next term (in politics).