Boxing star unrecognizable after fight!
Vienna (Austria) - A champion's dream shattered in a faraway place, her face gone - and to make matters worse, she was prevented from flying back: The past few days have not been too kind to Swedish professional boxer Mikaela Laurén (48).
Last Saturday, the 48-year-old lost the fight for the WBF welterweight world title against Czech Michaela Kotaskova (33) on points, was dominated by her 15-year younger opponent for all ten rounds and was badly battered in the process.
Just a few days later, the blonde reviewed the experience in an interview with the national tabloid Aftonbladet, talking in particular about the health consequences of her appearance in the Austrian capital Vienna - and complications on the return journey.
"There was a lot of internal bleeding. I suffered from a sinking hematoma, which means that the blood sinks over the eyes and the eyes become completely blocked," Laurén explained and continued: "I couldn't open my eyes for 30 hours."
As a result, the journey home to Stockholm was like a nightmare, as Laurén was dependent on help for the entire trip: "I was blind. It's a terrible swelling. From my forehead to above my eyes and that's where all the blood stopped. My trainer acted as a companion throughout the journey."
First Vienna, then Frankfurt: Mikaela Laurén had a hard time traveling
From Vienna, with a stopover in Zurich, she was supposed to continue on to Frankfurt am Main - and from there back to Sweden, but the stresses and strains of the journey put the athlete's nerves to the test even before the first flight: the staff "didn't want to let me on the plane because it [her face, editor's note] was swollen".
They were therefore afraid to let her on board in such a condition. And so, instead of boarding the plane, she was first taken to a hospital for an examination, where she was finally given permission to return home in the form of a certificate.
But that was not all, because as soon as the initial shock was over, the next incident at the airport in the Hessian metropolis on the Main put her patience to the test: "There was no seat available on the next plane home, so we had to wait over three hours before we could fly to Frankfurt." A whole 22 hours later, however, we made it - and Laurén was back home.