World champion boxer Savannah Marshall is backing a new campaign to save lives by providing vital defibrillators for boxing clubs.

‘Keep the Beat – Maverick’s Restart a Heart’ aims to raise awareness of CPR techniques along with donating 50 defibs to amateur gyms nationwide. The initiative is headed up by the charity’s ambassador April Hunter who lost her cousin and best friend Paul Gardner to cardiac arrest in 2018.

Middleweight titlist Savannah said: “I know many amateur clubs that just run on donations and funding; they don't even charge the boxers, so all these things help. They're [defibrillators] a lot of money so I can't imagine there'd be many clubs with the funding for their own. “

Sudden cardiac arrest in young people – including high-profile athletes – has increasingly been making headlines in recent years. Each year in the UK there are more than 30,000 ‘out-of-hospital’ cardiac arrests. The survival rate is less than one in ten. In some cases, performing CPR can more than double the chances of survival.

“To this day, I’ve really struggled with depression about him [Paul]. It’s a battle every day,” said April. “When Paul passed away, it could have been a simple thing of putting him on his side and clearing his airways and he might still be here today.”

Maverick Stars Trust is now committed to providing 50 defibrillators to amateur boxing clubs most in need. It will help meet the requirement that every England Boxing member club will need to have access to and know how to use a life-saving defibrillator by 1st June 2022.