Three years ago, Laura Burgos walked into the wilderness of The World Games.
At 32, no athlete would be considered a spring chicken, but it was the first time she competed outside of Mexico in the women’s 54kg Muaythai division at Birmingham 2022.
As a former travel writer, she is used to travelling far and wide, but the overall experience of a grandiose multi-games sporting event was something that caught her off guard.
“I was feeling like a young kid there,” said Burgos. “I was alone the first time because my coach got there three days after I did so it was a very different feel.”
“I wasn’t scared, but I was unfamiliar with everything. I didn’t know where to have my accreditation, where to get my uniform, the names of people, everything was so new for me.”
“They told me I was going there three weeks in advance, so everything was really difficult.”
Once it came to the fights themselves though in the USA, Burgos comprehensively outdid her adjustment doubts, getting silver at the Boutwell Auditorium via points decision wins over Germany’s Atenea Flores-Pertegas and Italy’s Sveva Melillo followed by a narrow points loss to Ashley Thiner in the gold medal match.
Birmingham was meant to be the first and last chance for Burgos to shine on the world stage due to her age, but the silver medal in addition to conversations with athletes older than her in Muaythai and other sports changed her mind.
“That made me, really hopeful about my future and changed everything,” stated June 2025’s athlete of the month.
Burgos before Birmingham was a deer in the headlights, but in Chengdu she arrived as an experienced serial winner. That was backed up after her excellent comeback win tonight at Sichuan against Poland’s Martyna Kierczynska, fighting back from the opening round down to seal a 2:1 victory.
“The first round was really hard and the difficult part is that I knew it was going to be like that but I was trying to find my reach to find my power,” a beaming Burgos said shortly after the gold was confirmed. “She came at me from some different angles but after I’ve lost some finals, I’ve learnt how to deal with a first round loss like that.”
The 35 year old is the reigning World Champion – following her successful defence at Antalya, Türkiye just this May after she won it in 2024 at Patros, Greece – and now The World Games queen of the Muaythai 54kg kingdom.
The Mexican fighter then won the honourable Queen’s Cup last year – an honorary achievement for the “sport’s most outstanding athletes” by the International Federation of Muaythai Associations – and the Emmy-nominated Muaythai reality TV show “The Challenger Battleground”.
Thus, Burgos’ pedigree on the Muaythai world circuit had soared following Birmingham but knew what had to be done to claim the gold she was so close to three years ago.
“I never take like for granted in everything that I do and I try to always be very critical with myself. When I come back with a competition, I always like to see my videos and try to improve everything,” added Burgos who has since relocated to Mexico City from Monterrey, training at the UFC Performance Institute where her husband Ernesto is a coach. “Sometimes that’s not good because I’m very obsessive about these things. I want to be more aggressive in some of the parts of my fight because I try to be very technical.”
“I try to make it a pretty fight, but I also need to have more aggressive moments. That’s what I’m trying to change.”
It’s not just her fighting style Burgos wants to alter.
Progressing the sport of Muaythai in Mexico is also high up on her to-do list.
Mexico itself is a hotbed of combat sports talent, producing the likes of three-weight unified boxing champion Canelo Alvarez and former UFC flyweight titleholder Brandon Moreno.
Those are just a couple from a plethora of fighting superstars and Laura -would like a Mexican athlete – as well as herself – from Muaythai to make a dent in the mainstream too as well as getting more girls involved.
“We (Mexico) have something for combat sports. We have the heart, we have the passion, and we are good at it.”
“I think I’m doing the best that I can to bring this sport to the young ones in Mexico, to the young girls especially because it’s very important for them to be empowered in our country.”
“It’s a really tough situation with the violence, so it’s an extra tool that they can have in Mexico and also as a sport.”
“I would love everyone to know the sport. For me just to make the question in the minds of the people, ‘What is Muay Thai?’ That’s a huge process, a huge advance, and I’m making it step by step,” she added.
Burgos admitted that Chengdu was most likely be her final rendezvous at The World Games with her being 39 by the time Karlsruhe 2029 comes around.
Therefore, the Chinese city was her last dance at The World Games. Winning gold however signified much more than a simple accolade.
It would symbolise the potential of Muaythai in Mexico and boost its popularity in the country, a timely victory given that the next Olympics isn’t too far from the border at LA28.
“I just watched in Alabama the flag football team and Mexico in the women’s won gold, now they are in LA so for me it was really special to see that,” she said. “The process should be like that, so maybe I could do it for the next one (if Muay Thai joins LA).”
Laura Burgos was on a mission in Chengdu, in and outside the ring. Her performances have attained those objectives, now let’s see what ripples tonight create back home in Mexico.