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Cutman
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A cutman is a person responsible for preventing and treating physical damage to a fighter during the breaks between rounds of a full contact match such as a boxing, kickboxing or a mixed martial arts bout. Cutmen typically handle swelling, nosebleeds and lacerations (commonly called cuts). The rules of full contact sports stipulate that these injuries can be a cause for premature match stoppage, counting as a loss to the injured fighter.
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A cutman is a person responsible for preventing and treating physical damage to a fighter during the breaks between rounds of a full contact match such as a boxing, kickboxing or a mixed martial arts bout. Cutmen typically handle swelling, nosebleeds and lacerations (commonly called cuts). The rules of full contact sports stipulate that these injuries can be a cause for premature match stoppage, counting as a loss to the injured fighter. The cutman is therefore essential to the fighter, and can be a decisive factor in the outcome of the match.
The compensation for cutmen varies, generally staying within 1-3% of fighter's prize money. For many fighters on a low budget, the cutman duties are performed by their cornerman. While most athletic commissions require cutmen to be licensed, there is usually no formal training or certification required. Most cutmen learn their trade through apprenticeship and self-education.
Cutmen should not be confused with fight doctors, whose task is closer to that of neutral referees, providing medical advice and monitoring the safety of both fighters in accordance with regulations or law.
Treatments
Before the fight, cutmen will usually put petroleum jelly on the most likely areas of impact, especially the fighter's face, making the skin more elastic and slippery, and hence less likely to tear. It is not considered good practice to use large amounts of petroleum jelly, since during the fight it is likely to end up on the gloves of the opponent, and later in the eyes of the fighter if the opponent lands a punch close to their eyes. Cutmen might also wrap fighters' hands, which helps protect the bones and tendons.
During the fight, cutmen try to control any swelling or bleeding during the breaks between rounds. Since cutmen are not doctors, and have a very short period of time to treat the fighter, their treatments are limited to advanced first aid treatments with over-the-counter medication.
Swelling
Swelling is usually associated with facial hematomas (commonly called a mouse), and is traditionally reduced by applying firm pressure with a chilled enswell or an ice bag on top of the area of trauma. Since the time between rounds is very short, cutmen try to apply the enswell right away and hold it as long as they can. A common mistake is to use the enswell to push on the swollen area in an attempt to disperse it or move it into a safer place such as away from the eye. Such treatment will not move the hematoma, and may disrupt the microscopic blood vessels under the skin thus causing an increase in bleeding and enlargement of the swelled area.
Cuts
Cuts (lacerations) are the primary focus of the cutman because unless the bleeding is stopped promptly, the ring side physician may stop the fight and declare that the injured fighter has lost the match. Physicians also will stop a match for a laceration that is perpendicular to the eye. The most common area of the face to be cut is around the eye. Cuts are treated by applying a cold towel to clean and simultaneously cool the area of the cut, causing a decrease in blood flow. A cotton swab soaked in epinephrine is applied with pressure to decrease blood flow even more, and Avitene is put into the cut to coagulate the blood. A cutman might also cover the area with petroleum jelly to prevent further damage.
Nosebleeds
Most nosebleeds occur near the opening of the nose. To stop the bleeding, cutmen generally apply a cotton swab soaked in adrenaline hydrochloride to the damaged area, while simultaneously pressing the nostril against the cotton swab with the other hand. Once the bleeding has stopped, the area is chilled with an ice pack or an enswell. The fighter is usually instructed to breathe through the mouth during the treatment.
A broken nose is a more difficult case, and can be detected by a heavy flow of dark colored blood from the nose. The bleeding is generally treated the same way; however, the fighter is usually instructed to avoid swallowing blood as it may induce nausea or vomiting, and the cutman is more likely to consult the ringside physician to ensure the fighter's safety.
Tools
Equipment
- Enswell, sometimes called end-swell, endswell, stop-swell or no-swell, is a small piece of metal with a handle. It is traditionally kept on ice and is used to cool the area of a bruise or a cut by applying direct pressure to decrease the blood flow to the area.
- Cotton swabs are used to apply medications to the fighter's wounds. While some cutmen use ready-made cotton swabs, others make their own. It's been suggested that the common cutmen practice of keeping cotton swabs behind their ears or in their mouths is unsanitary.
- Ice packs are used to cool bruises, cuts and sprains, and to keep the enswell cold.
- Vaseline (petroleum jelly) is put on the cuts and most likely areas of impact to make the skin more elastic and slippery, and hence less likely to tear. Some cutmen cover cuts with homemade salve containing a mix of petroleum jelly and adrenaline chloride, so that adrenaline keeps getting applied to the wound during the bout. Also, perspiration from above the eyes, will be prevented from reaching the eyes, by applying petroleum jelly to the eyebrows.
- Gauze pads are used to dry cuts.
- Medical gloves are worn by the cutman to limit the fighter's exposure to infectious matter, as well as limiting the cutman's exposure to blood.
Medications
Cutmen used to create their own medications, and the recipes were passed from masters to apprentices as trade secrets. Today, the use of various medications in sports is highly controlled, and most cutmen use only two or three standard medications from the list below.
Adrenaline hydrochloride (also adrenaline chloride, usually a 1:1000 epinephrine solution) : Applied topically to decrease blood flow. This is arguably the most common medication used by cutmen.
Avitene (microfibrillar collagen hemostat) : Coagulant used for bleeding cuts. It works best when the surface is dry. The treatment includes covering the affected area with Avitene, and applying moderate pressure with dry gauze.
Thrombin : Coagulant used when the blood is removed and the surface is dry.
Surgicel and Gelfoam : Two other substances also used for coagulation, although less frequently than Avitene or Thrombin.
Monsel's solution : This widely outlawed hemostatic quickly stops the blood flow by chemically cauterizing the tissues surrounding the cut, and generating severe scar tissue. The application of a lead based homeostatic can be spotted by a dark ring of damaged tissue around the cut. Monsel's solution is an iron (sub)sulfate solution and—contrary to popular misconception—contains no lead.
Cutmen in popular culture
Film and TV
- The Ultimate Fighter, a TV reality series produced by Spike TV and UFC, often shows UFC cutmen Jacob "Stitch" Duran and Leon "Cutman" Tabbs wrapping the contestants' hands and treating their cuts. In Season 2, episode 6, one can see Jacob Duran showing expert cutman technique by simultaneously treating two cuts with one hand. Duran and Tabbs (who both wear shirts which bear their nickname and the phrase "One More Round" on the back) can also be seen several times during each UFC event, usually during the prefight inspection (when they will check a fighter's face and apply petroleum jelly) and in between rounds as they work on any injuries the fighter has sustained.
- Million Dollar Baby, a 2004 Academy Award-winning film. Clint Eastwood stars as a trainer and cutman.
- More Than Famous, a 2003 documentary on Salvadoran/American boxer Carlos 'Famoso' Hernández, featured a prominent cutman Chuck Bodak as himself.
- The Cutman, a 2003 short film by Yon Motskin, is a drama focusing on a cutman's life.
- Play It to the Bone, a 1999 Touchstone Pictures film, featured cutmen Chuck Bodak as "Cesar's Cutman" and Jacob 'Stitch' Duran as "Vince's Cutman".
- In The Boxer, a 1997 Universal Pictures film, Ken Stott plays "Ike Weir", "Danny Flynn's" coach, and is seen performing cutman's duties by treating Danny's cut with two cotton swabs.
- In the 1976 film Rocky, during Rocky Balboa's fight with heavyweight champion Apollo Creed, Rocky's cutman is Benny Stein, played by former boxing trainer Al Silvani (credited as Al Salvani). During the fight, between the 14th and 15th rounds, Rocky's eyes have swollen so badly that he cannot see, so Salvani famously cuts open Rocky's eye to restore his vision. He also serves as Rocky's cutman in both Rocky II and Rocky III.
- The Aaron Sorkin TV show Sports Night includes an episode featuring Allen Garfield as Chuck "the Cut-Man" Kimmel.
- The Contender, a TV boxing reality show which exposes and elevates prominent fighters to a celebrity status, earning the opportunity to fight for The Contender title. Featuring Sugar Ray Leonard(Former World Champion ) and (Cutman Carlos) as the cutman in the corner.
Theater
CUTMAN a boxing musical had its first staged reading at the New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF) in October 2007.
Video games
Fiction
- Million Dollar Baby: Stories from the Corner by Toole, F.X. contains several short stories on the lives of cutmen and their relationships with the fighters.
Famous cutmen
Cutmen are often seen during contact sport events, and sometimes they achieve celebrity status. Some of the more prominent cutmen are:
- Chuck Bodak , prominent boxing cutman. Chuck traditionally tapes pictures of boxers to his skull when he is working fights, making a sort of an improvised crown.
- Miguel Diaz, one of the most experienced cutman in boxing today. Current cutman of Manny Pacquiao and many other World Champions like Miguel Cotto, Kelly Pavlik, Erik Morales and Sultan Ibragimov.
- Jerry Boyd, best known by his pen name F.X. Toole, writer of the collection of short stories Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner, two of which were adapted into Million Dollar Baby in 2004.
- Jacob "Stitch" Duran, a boxing, mixed martial arts, and kickboxing cutman. Duran is one of the three official cutmen in the UFC, a representative for the Retired Boxers Foundation, a host of the Las Vegas boxing radio program “The Thirteenth Round”, and the author of the documentary A Boxers Nightmare.
- Al Gavin, a prominent boxing cutman.
- Cassius Green, a cutman for Shane Mosley, among other fighters. He is easily recognized by his ubiquitous Navy cap.
- Joe Souza,a prominent boxing cutman.
- Leon Tabbs, the original UFC cutman and the cutman for Bernard Hopkins.
- Dave Tenny , a prominent boxing cutman.
- Dennie Mancini, a prominent boxing cutman
- Ray Rodgers, a famous Golden Gloves, Silver Gloves and Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame member. He has served as the cutman for the likes of Jermain Taylor, Tommy Morrison, Wayne McCullough, Glen Johnson, Iran Barkley, Hector Camacho, Sr.
- Cutman Carlos. A Prominent Cutman for Boxing including 3 Seasons of "The Contender". Many years of experience working corners in Boxing and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
- Jon "The Cutman" Yapo. The premier Cutman for MMA
- Bazooka, an acclaimed cutman, wears a Naval Commander Hat. Uses surgical pharmaceutical medicines authorized by most state medical boxing commissions. Out of Gleason's Gym, Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Thomas Paquette ,Thomas Paquette a prominent boxing cutman, who worked with Mickey Ward, John the beast Mugabi and Pito Cardona
See also
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