GARY Beardsley is entitled to believe that no opponent he will face in the boxing ring could be as formidable as the two he has just beaten.

At the age of 42, the Belper fighter is preparing to make the unlikeliest of professional comebacks.

That is because he has had to battle to overcome long-term mental health issues and cancer.

Having come through the darkest of times, Beardsley has turned to what he knows best to set him back on the path to a normal life.

Beardsley was already at the veteran stage of his pro career when he last fought seven years ago.

He made his debut in 1995 and was never considered a future star of the sport, though his brave, come-forward style meant his contests were not short of entertainment value.

His final year, 2003, was possibly his most successful, starting when he beat the much-vaunted Matthew Thirlwall in Nottingham in front of the TV cameras.

That earned him a bout with Howard Eastman at the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green.

Eastman, then the European middleweight champion, stopped him in the second and Thirlwall took his revenge a month later, though Beardsley made him climb off the canvas in the fifth to take the points verdict.

But Beardsley's final bout, in December that year, saw him take Lee Murtagh's British Masters light-middleweight title.

It was a triumphant day, his first pro title, but mental health problems were already casting a large cloud on his life.

"I had a chemical imbalance because my body was producing too much testosterone," he said.

"My problems came when I was in my early 30s, as it does with a lot of people, but when I was a teenager I used to have panic attacks, so it was always there.

"When I trained too hard it would sometimes make it worse.

"A lot of the time, I never really noticed it was there but I need medication to control it and that was the problem.

"It took me 10 years to get over my mental health problems because they had me on the wrong medication.

"It's not like having a broken arm where it's obvious what to do to fix it, it's a horrible disease.

"I think there is one treatment to suit everybody but finding it is the problem. You can't put your finger on it.

"A lot of people suffer from different sorts of mental health problems. I was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic but another specialist told me that wasn't right.

"I was told what I had was similar but most of the time I was alright and even when I did go, I was still aware of everything and knew what was going on."

When Beardsley was, at last, beginning to get his mental health problems under control, he has hit by another serious illness.

"I had an ultrasound test earlier this year and it showed my right kidney was three times the size it should have been because I had a tumour," he added.

"I had the operation on February 17 to take the kidney out. You have to wait six months after the operation and then go for a chest and abdominal scan to see if there's any more cancer and that gave me the all-clear.

"I won't say having cancer could ever be a good thing but it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to take better care of myself.

"I started out walking when I got out of hospital, then I started jogging and before long I was back training properly and thinking about boxing again.

"One thing kind of led to another. I never planned it that way.

"When you pack up boxing, it's like losing a leg because you don't know what to do with yourself. I had that to deal with and my mental health to deal with as well.

"Now I'm back boxing I'm living life again and I'm back to my old self.

"Everybody thinks I'm crazy but I know this is the right thing for me to do. If Bernard Hopkins can do it, why can't I?"

Beardsley's comeback will be on an EBF-sanctioned show at the Heritage Hotel in Derby on September 11, promoted by the Derby Sporting Club.

That does not leave much time to get properly prepared but Beardsley says the fighting instincts are coming back to him.

"I'm getting my fitness back," he said.

"A couple of weeks ago I had some sparring with this bloke who was two stones heavier than I am and he really pushed me around but I had another session with the same bloke a couple of days ago and I gave him a black eye this time.

"To be honest, I think this fight probably is a bit too soon but I really wanted to be on this show.

"I never thought in a million years I would get back in the ring but that's just the way it's turned out.

"This probably is the last one for me but two or three months down the line you never know. We'll see how it goes."

Tickets for the 10-bout show, priced £30, are available from Beardsley on 07838 170794.