Ben Mulligan will fight for a Celtic title next Friday night in Belfast, but the Fivemiletown man will have already won his biggest fight before he sets foot in the ring. The lightweight was carving out a career as a professional boxer when his progress was halted in shattering fashion when he received the news he had contracted skin cancer.
For Ben, a young healthy athlete still in his twenties, it was life changing news that left him with an uncertain future. “I was devastated,” he admitted. “I had noticed a lump on my head for the guts of a year, but I wasn’t getting it looked at because with boxing I’m always marked up. I was always thinking ‘what was that mark on my head?’ Sometimes it would look redder than others, but I just thought maybe it was because I had a hard week in the gym. 
“My own doctor said he never really passed any remarks on it because every time I went in to him I had some sort of mark on me, which is understandable. Eventually the doctor pushed me to get it looked at and then the result came back it was a form of skin cancer. When they went to operate on it, they discovered it was there so long it was really deep. They don’t know how long I had it, but they think at least two or three years. I was thinking that was my boxing days done to be honest.”
Ben underwent an operation in January 2016, and after the surgery he admits he had abandoned all hope of ever getting back into a boxing ring for a competitive fight. 
“I literally started back training just to get back up and about,” he said. 
“I was lying up for weeks after the operation. I was with the consultant one day and he asked me if I was back training. I wasn’t doing anything, so he advised me that I should start going for a walk down the lane or go for a run and try to get myself back into things, and that is how I started back. It was for my own peace of mind and to get back into decent shape again, but I didn’t think I would ever be allowed to box again.”
Two years’ later and Ben is on now the brink of a title fight against Ciaran Kelly from Belfast, and he is approaching the contest with a new attitude.
 “This is the hungriest I have ever felt since I turned pro,” he said. 
“In the past, my management said I should have been picking up titles but I had taken a lot of fights just for the money and I always regretted that. I was a good amateur and when I turned pro I should have been picking up some sort of title. This time I told my management team I didn’t want to take a fight on the road just for a payday. I want to come back for a win. They said if I was coming back, then come back big. I found it is different when money became involved because you lose the love of it, but I have that back now. You don’t know how much you miss it until it’s gone.”
The path back to the ring has been a tough one for Ben but he has dedicated a lot of time and effort to getting back into shape after his enforced lay off, and he is hopeful the work he has done with long-time coach Gary Parkinson will pay off on Friday, May 25.
 “Gary has always trained me since I was a kid and I said to him I would come back and see how I feel. He knows me better than anyone and he said that he would tell me if he doesn’t think I should come back. He is honest about it. I had put on a lot of weight when I was away from it, and you don’t realise what sort of shape you are in before you try to get back at it. I have done a proper eight week camp and put the work in. I’ve been doing a lot of sparring, and in terms of diet I have got help with the company Be Prepped from Enniskillen, which has helped me get down to the weight again.”
The fairy tale comeback would be complete if Ben were raising a belt to the skies after the fight, but given past experiences he is not planning too far ahead. 
“It’s a dream to get back, never mind come back and box for a title. I’m just going to get this one out of the way and then I will see what happens.”