For those who are interested.
Did beards evolve to protect men from punches? Here’s what U. of U. researchers discovered
A team of University of Utah researchers didn’t go to blows to explore whether beards serve an evolutionary purpose (also known as the pugilism hypothesis), but they did win an Ig Nobel Peace Prize for their work, an award intended to celebrate science that “first make people laugh, and then...www.deseret.com
My personal experience with sparring and facial hair is that the gloves slips off my beard. I don't have a thick beard, but I would assume there is some cushion for those with thick beards.
I used to have a close cropped beard. I used to rub a little Vaseline into it at the boxing gym. Once I started to sweat it was like a slip and slide.