IF you think WBO light heavyweight champion of the world Nathan Cleverly has blown his purse on fast cars and high living, think again.

Instead, after a Florida holiday, the 24-year-old has spent the weeks since his May 21 world championship-winning fight landscaping the garden of his home near Blackwood, creating a decking area with a hot tub for those all-important cool downs after a hard training session, and making home improvements to the house he shares with girlfriend of two years, Rebecca Cole, 26.

The pair met when ring-girl Rebecca carried out the Welsh flag for Nathan during one his commonwealth fights.

In fact, home is very much where the heart is for the self-confessed Valleys boy. There are no plans to up sticks for pastures new.

“I enjoy the area,” he said. “It's the perfect environment for my training. It's where my gym is, the running routes are brilliant, lovely mountains, fresh air. My family and friends are here.

“I'm happy to stay in the area for the rest of my life.”

His Valleys background is the reason he took up the sport.

"I grew up until the age 11 in Phillipstown near New Tredegar,” he said. “It was quite a rough area with not many facilities for young people, and I was getting involved in a lot of street fights. I wanted to start boxing to do something productive and channel my energy into that instead."

He begged his mum and dad to take him to a boxing gym.

They were reluctant at first, but when Nathan was 11 his dad Vince took him to the Newbridge Boxing Club - owned and run by Enzo Calzaghe, and home to another Gwent world champion, Joe.

He said: “It was like this old blue rusty shed. It was very old fashioned, very raw, and had that smell of old boxing leather. There was a buzz as soon as I stepped through the door, and that's kept with me since.”

His family moved to Blackwood the following year, and he attended Blackwood Comprehensive while he trained under Enzo Calzaghe.

He was “extremely dedicated” to training right throughout his teenage years - often leaving his friends during the school lunch break to run on the track.

He also kept up with his school work, getting 10 GCSEs and three A levels, but he never had any doubt about where he was headed.

Nathan said: “I said I would be world champion. I had unbelievable passion. I knew I was good from the street fights so I kept training and winning. I was destined to train professionally and I knew from a young age that was where my heart was.

“Joe was world champion when I first went down the gym. He was a Valleys boy like myself - brought up in similar circumstances. He proved you could go on and conquer the world of boxing. That was a big inspiration.”

Nathan turned pro in 2005 at the age of 18. In 2008, he decided to part ways with the Calzaghes and train under his father Vince at his gym in Argoed.

Vince, a former musician and singer, said he knew nothing about boxing before Nathan took up the sport, but gave up his first career to open Church Place Amateur Boxing Club, and train Nathan full time.

Within a few weeks, Nathan had his first commonwealth fight, took the title four times, before becoming British and European champion by 2010.

While he was busy making a name for himself on an international stage, Nathan had also decided to take a mathematics degree at Cardiff University.

He said: “I was not a stereotypical boxer, but I liked that. That reputation of being thuggish - I wanted to break that mould.

"The day of graduation was probably one of the happiest of my life because I knew I could get my degree, which was a major ambition of mine, and from that point onwards I could fully concentrate on boxing.”

Less than a year later, he was crowned world champion.

“It was something I had strived for all my life since I was a boy. Regardless of whatever happens in my life, I know that I achieved my dream," he said.