Expert: Lian Shoemake - 3/17/2005

Question
Hi Lian,

I'm not sure if this is an actual practice in boxing, but I could have sworn to have seen it:  If a guy has very bad swelling/hematoma, say, above the eye, will a corner guy actually cut the spot to let the blood out/reduce swelling?  Does this happen and if not, have you ever seen something happen like this possibly from the cutman pressing the metal tool (forgot name) too hard?

Thanks
J

Answer
Hi Jason,

The practice of cutting a swelling open during a bout could only occur in the movies (it happened in Rocky). Swelling around an eye is not necessarily a big problem for a boxer unless the boxer's vision in impacted. However, if a cornerman were to slice the swelling open, then the boxer would definitely have to deal with blood running into the eye (and that wouldn't necessarily relieve the swelling, either).

The metal tool is called Enswell, and it doesn't have a cutting edge. Pressing too hard would probably hurt a lot, but not burst open a boxer's swollen eye.

I hope this helps, Jason.
Thanks again for writing!

Regards,

Lian