Mervyn Langdale is set to complete his ‘Cinderella Man’ story by returning to professional boxing this weekend.

The 37-year-old from Hythe hung up his gloves seven-and-a-half years ago after a car crash left him struggling to compete.

Complications from the accident and the resulting treatment ultimately led to him having a stroke and requiring a major operation to help him back to full fitness.

For many people that would put pay to any dreams of stepping back into the ring to fight again, but not Langdale who has signed up with Queensbury Boxing League and resumes his remarkable pro career at Epsom Downs on Saturday night.

Langdale explained: “I’ve got unfinished business.

“I got stopped by illness when I was pro after injuries and I told myself my life is half full rather than half empty and given the chances I have become healthy.

“My motivation is I have something still to prove in the sport.

“People are calling me the ‘Cinderella Man’ because it would have been easier to walk away but sometimes life opens the door like this.”

Langdale admits that people are sceptical and concerned when he tells them he is fighting again after all that has happened to him, but is confident he is ready.

“I’m 100 per cent fit,” he insisted.

“It doesn’t sound like you should box but this was something that happened in life, a manufactured problem if you like rather than something that ran in the family.

“I would rather get on in life and do things rather than just sit there and think I should have or would have done that.”

Money is certainly not the motivation for Langdale, who runs a successful construction business.

Indeed, he is donating all of the cash he is paid for his fights, which will be televised on Eurosport, to Barrett’s Wessex, a charity that aims to reduce the number of deaths caused by oesophageal cancer.

It has motivated Langdale for his comeback and in his preparation.

“I’ve been sparring with the pros, some really good lads,” he revealed.

“I’m a better boxer than I’ve ever been and I’m more motivated because it got taken away from me.

“I am pretty honest and when you start boxing you feel like a big fish in a little pond and people think they will be famous and win money but boxing is a hard hard game.

“I wouldn’t be able to look in the mirror if I didn’t give this a go again, and I’m not boxing to be famous, or for money because I’m giving everything I earn to charity.

“I’m boxing because I really want to and because I have the chance to again.”