Ricky Burns has admitted he considered hanging up his gloves for good in the days after breaking his jaw against Raymundo Beltran.
The WBO lightweight champion was left writhing in agony following his controversial draw with the Mexican in Glasgow last month after suffering the injury just two rounds in.
The Coatbridge fighter admits his shattered jaw caused him so much pain in the days after the fight that he considered retiring from the ring.
He said: “I was given morphine in the hospital but the pain was so great that it didn’t work. I still don’t know how I managed to get through that fight.
“Every time I would see the round card girl hold the number up and it would be four or five or six: it seemed to go on forever. And for the next few days I wondered if I would ever fight again.
“Since then I’ve had an operation and there is a plate in my lower jaw. That can either be taken out or stay in place and we’ll see over the next few weeks how that’s going to go.
“I’ve been told by the doctors that the jaw is healing the way it should. The problem is that, because I carried on fighting after it was broken, my jaw was rubbing against the main nerves so I have nerve damage in my mouth.
“You could compare it to the numbness you experience after having an injection at the dentist’s. That’s how my lower jaw feels.
“The surgeons say it’s 50-50 whether or not the feeling comes back but they tell me I’ll get used to it if it doesn’t.”
Now Burns says he will only find out if he can continue with his career when he returns to sparring.
Both Burns and promoter Eddie Hearn are hoping the Scot will be fit to make a mandatory defence against Terence Crawford next year, although Burns is not getting ahead of himself.
“The jaw is getting there, healing the way it should do, I’m in light training but no boxing for another four to five weeks,” he added.
“When I say light training, I mean swimming or cycling, even jogging I need to stay away from.
“The surgeons said my jaw should go back to where it was and hopefully when I start back sparring, all those doubts will be put to rest.
“I will need to take a couple of clean shots to put my mind at ease but I just need time for it to heal and have another x-ray to make sure it’s all healed.”