A Mexican boxer has revealed she will never return to the ring after a brain injury she suffered during a fight in Glasgow. Alejandra Ayala was knocked out in the 10th round of her WBA and IBO super-welterweight title fight against Scotland’s Hannah Rankin at the OVO Hydro in May.
The boxer was treated at the scene before being transferred to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where she credits medical staff with saving her life.
Doctors put Alejandra, 33, from Tijuana, into a medically induced coma before carrying out multiple surgeries to save her life. After a miracle recovery, she’s now back home in Mexico undergoing therapy.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mail, Alejandra revealed doctors have warned it’s too dangerous for her to ever return to the sport.
Alejandra said she has come to terms with the end of her professional career but has no regrets.
She said: “I can’t go back to boxing. The doctors have told me I can never go back. But I don’t feel bad, I don’t have any regrets. I gave it my all in that fight.
“I already knew this was the last year for me. I have lots of plans for the future. I’ve just bought a new house and got married.
“I always wanted to fight for a World Championship – that was my goal. I got to do that and thank God I’m still alive. I’m lucky, I’m blessed and I feel really happy.”
Medics had told her parents Maria Elena and Vincente, who had travelled from Mexico, that their daughter was unlikely to survive.
Alejandra spent more than two months in Glasgow receiving treatment and said her recovery is better than medics had hoped. She has worked with speech and language therapists but admitted the injury has left her struggling to read, write and speak.
She praised NHS staff for the care she received and she is now continuing with her recovery programme at home in Mexico, which is expected to last until February.
She said: “The staff at the Queen Elizabeth were amazing. I’m very grateful to God and everyone who helped. My parents, who were by my side, just loved them all and we’re so thankful to all the staff there. Their care reminded me that the world is beautiful.
“From the doctors to the nurses and the cleaners, they were all so nice to me. I’ll never forget the kindness and care I received in
Scotland when I needed it most.”
Alejandra doesn’t blame world champion Hannah, from Luss, Dunbartonshire, and accepts it was a risk of the fight. She added: “In the run-up to the fight, Hannah and I had meetings and there was a good atmosphere.
"I was looking forward to the fight. Hannah was doing her job. It’s hard to do what we do and I wish her the best.
“My parents told me she wanted to come see me and send flowers, which I appreciate, but at the beginning I couldn’t stand up, I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t hear properly and the sound of people talking would bother me.
“After about a month I started different therapies and, when I finally learned to write again, I wrote Hannah a private message on Instagram.
“She replied saying, ‘I’m really happy you’re OK.’”
Alejandra wants to give back to the sport she loves and is already coaching others from the side of the ring.
She said: “There is so much love and compassion in the sport. I’ll always love it. Right now I can’t train boxers physically but I’m ringside telling them what to do.
“Because of what happened to me, I want to make sure boxers and amateurs are ready physically and mentally in everything
they do.”
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