A WORLD champion boxer has thrown his weight behind a charity effort to help raise £60,000 for a young girl’s operation.

On Monday at the National Club, in Wattsville, current WBO light heavyweight world champion, Nathan Cleverly, appeared for a charity signing in aid of Maisie’s Steps to Hope appeal.

Two-year-old Maisie Cooper from Cross Keys was born with spastic diplegia cerebral palsy and her parents, Gareth and Hayley, hope to send her to American for a £60,000 operation.

Customers at the club also drank more than 200 pints during the third test of British and Irish Lions against Australia on Saturday in aid of the charity.

For every pint bought at the bar, club members Dafydd and Davina Edwards donated £1 towards the appeal.

When Teresa Jones from the National Club heard about little Maisie, she knew the club’s generous members would be able to help.

With members throwing £20 notes in the charity bucket, rather than the £2 Miss Jones had asked for, the club raised £265, and contributed a further £100 themselves, resulting in a total of £565 to go towards the Cooper family’s £60,000 aim.

Raffle tickets are still available to buy from the club for £5 a strip and the winner of the draw on August 10 could win signed Nathan Cleverly memorabilia.