Ok, in the movie Cinderella Man during the middle of the rounds, Braddock’s team doctor or trainer looks as if he is putting a coin soaked in ice water on the back of his earlobe while they do other stuff to his face, like clean it, put salve on it or whatever…
What does the coin on the back of the earlobe do? Control bleeding?
It reduces swelling after being punched in the ear.
WAG, transfers heat from the body to the coin, by cooling the flesh in the ears perhaps it will have a lasting effect as the boxer’s body temp heats up during the fight. I’m sure that during the match that adrenaline is released, causing the body to run in overdrive.
I’ve noticed lately that theu use some sort of metal device to rub on the face. I assume it is cold and absorbs heat faster than other things. ETA: here is one.
Yep. It’s called an endswell, pronounced “end swell.” A little pressure and cold keeps down swelling that could cause a mouse to rise or an eye to swell shut. I’ve never seen a coin used for an endswell, maybe it was a 1920’s thing.
I guess that one’s called a “noswell.” 
I noticed in the movie it was a silver dollar–do modern base metal coins work as well, or is it something about the silver itself?
I doubt it; endswells work because they’re hard and ice cold. Modern ones are usually made of stainless steel.
According to Ten (or whatever number) Reasons Why You Can’t Blame Mike Tyson…
for losing to that guy in Japan
Tyson’s corner men sucked to monumental proportions. Among other failings, they didn’t even bother (or think) to bring an End Swell to the match, and this piece of gear is an absolute must for cornermen - according to the documentary.
In fact, instead of ice packs, they were reduced to using what was either a water balloon or a condom, full of tap water. Nice. :rolleyes:
If that’s true, those cornermen should have been drawn and quartered. The cornermen for a professional fighter forgetting to bring an endswell isn’t just unforgivable, it’s unthinkable.
A little googling turns up it’s also sometimes spelled “enswell.” News to me.
Oh dude, it was horrible. They weren’t even trained cornermen; just Tyson’s buddies and hangers-on. It was a miserable spectacle.
My roomate says that modern coins are actually made more of zinc and nickel and (in the middle) a little bit of copper, but is primarily zinc.
(I read him threads and after I read him your reply he said that it was incorrect)
shrugs I have no cite because it’s not me saying it. I have no idea if he’s correct or not but he asked me to post this.
Yes. If I remember the documentary correctly, they didn’t even have the smarts to suggest genuine boxing strategies to offer Tyson, except nonsense like “You gotta beat this fucker.” Totally inept.
He’s correct, but I didn’t say modern coins were made of stainless steel. Modern endswells are made of stainless steel. 
Surely a coin is going to have very little capacity to absorb heat due to its small size - maybe it feels nice, but how effective could it really be?
Probably not very, which is probably why the endswell was invented. A coin would be not only too small, but would absorb as much heat from the cornerman’s hand as from the fighter. That’s why endswells have the handle.
D’oh, you’re right, pravnik. He (nor I) knew what an endswell was, it turns out, and he thought you were talking about a type of coin. :o
S’ okay. No harm, no foul. 
That’s insane. Why would he do that? I mean, I love my Mom, but I wouldn’t let her corner my fight! :eek: