Manchester boxing coach Joe Gallagher has disclosed that his cancer returned in January, though he says a positive response to chemotherapy means he is now scheduled for an operation in September that he hopes will bring the all-clear once again.
Gallagher, who was previously diagnosed with stage four bowel and liver cancer, appeared on the latest episode of the Toe2Toe Sky Sports Boxing podcast to give an update on his health and his plans for the rest of the year.
The respected trainer had been given the all-clear in September last year and felt strong enough to travel to Las Vegas with his fighter Mikie Tallon for a mid-week card ahead of Canelo Alvarez against Terence Crawford. That relief proved short-lived when fresh scans in January showed the disease had spread to his liver.
2026 has been a bumpy road. It was a right kick in the nuts at the beginning of the year.
In September, I got given the all clear on the plane to Vegas, and then I went in back in January for something to do with my heart - believe it or not, I have a heart! - I went for scans and then they came back and they said: 'Listen the cancer has come back to your liver.'
Gallagher explained that doctors initially feared the tumour could not be removed at all, before a course of intensive chemotherapy improved the outlook.
They said it was inoperable at first, and then there was chance of it being operable, but I had to do a load of chemo to shrink it. So I've gone through seven cycles, and it was a lot more aggressive.
The cocktail of chemo was huge. Obviously, you could see me losing my hair and everything else.
He detailed the complexity of the procedure now planned, with four separate affected areas of the liver requiring different treatment.
I've been doing that, coming through it all, so now I'm going to have an operation in September to get rid of this.
There's four areas of the liver that has got cancer, three of them can be cut out, one of them they've got to burn it out, but that one is sitting on a main artery that's carrying blood from the feet to the heart.
That's the one that needed to shrink a little bit, which it has.
Despite the seriousness of his prognosis, Gallagher insisted he has continued working through the treatment, determined not to let the diagnosis derail the progress of the young fighters he trains.
The consultant is very matter of fact, which they have to be. He said I needed to rest.
But I was just so annoyed because I thought: '2026, here we go, I've got a great team of talent coming through.' And then I thought: 'Oh my God.'
But we've still worked on. I was in the gym yesterday.
Everyone knows I'm not available in September. But I'll be back for the beginning of October, hopefully.
How the diagnosis has evolved
Gallagher's cancer journey stretches back to February 2025, when he was first publicly reported to have stage four bowel and liver cancer, according to BoxingScene. By March 2025, Sky Sports reported he had been arranging chemotherapy sessions around his fighters' schedules while continuing his work in boxing.
A major operation that year removed 25 lymph nodes, of which only three were found to be cancerous, with doctors telling him at the time that no further treatment was needed beyond six-month scans and bloods, according to a later BoxingScene report. Sky Sports also reported on 3 October 2025 that Gallagher had delayed a final operation until after Lawrence Okolie's bout on the Wembley undercard of Usyk vs Dubois, as detailed in a Sky Sports piece from that time.
When the disease returned this year, the outlook shifted again. A second opinion sought in April changed assessments from what Gallagher described as "two out of 10 operable and six out of 10 manageable" to a realistic prospect of surgery once chemotherapy had done its work, he told BoxingScene in a 12 August 2026 interview. In that same conversation, Gallagher said doctors had moved from calling the liver cancer inoperable to confirming it was now operable following the chemotherapy, with the surgery still pencilled in for early September.
Tallon eyes a place on the Joshua-Fury card
Mikie Tallon, also speaking on the Toe2Toe Sky Sports Boxing podcast, addressed speculation over a potential Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua showdown and admitted he would jump at the chance to fight on the undercard.
I know just as much as everyone else [regarding Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua]. I've seen Netflix put a promo out on the WWE last night or something like that.
It'll be great. Joshua vs Fury. A mega fight.
So, I'll keep my fingers crossed. If I could get on the card, I would. Definitely.
Tallon also reflected on a personal milestone earlier in his career, when he stopped Argentinian Olympian Leandro Jose Blanc in the first round with a body shot on a previous Fury undercard.
Before the Fury [undercard] fight, that was my first stoppage when I did him [Argentinian Olympian Leandro Jose Blanc] in the first round with a body shot, Joe [Gallagher] was making montages and little clips of all the fighters years ago.
Like Callum Smith, Beefy Smith, Scott Quigg, Anthony Crolla, Paul Butler, Marcus Morrison - all them stopping people with body shots.
I said to myself, the next time he's going to put me in one of those videos. And then after we got that stoppage win, I was like: 'You can add me to one of those videos now, Joe!'
What happens next
Gallagher's operation is scheduled for early September 2026, according to the BoxingScene interview, with the trainer hoping the procedure will finally clear the cancer from his liver. He has said he expects to be back working by the beginning of October 2026 if his recovery goes to plan, a timeline confirmed in further Sky Sports coverage.
Away from his health battle, Gallagher has also been vocal on the prospect of a Fury-Joshua fight, telling a Sky Sports video published on 18 August 2026 that he backs the mega-fight being staged in the USA.
