GIRL band Bliss are packing a punch after meeting up with former boxing champ Nigel Benn.

Abigail Jackson, 17, Marie Atkinson, 17, and Laura Heyworth, 16, of Padiham, met the Dark Destroyer when they performed at Burnley's Mean Cats club, where the ex-boxer was DJ-ing.

The girls are set to follow up their debut album One Sweet High, with a new single covering the Undertones classic Teenage Kicks.

After chatting to Benn for more than half an hour in the club's VIP room, the girls managed to persuade him to hand over one of his prized boxing gloves.

The former WBC Super Middleweight and WBO Middleweight now spends more time behind the DJ decks than in the ring, since he hung up his gloves in the late 90s, but he still made quite an impression on the girls. Abigail said: "When we came off stage we heard he was in the VIP room so we went up to see him. He was all on his own in the corner so we kind of ambushed him!

"He had the glove by his side so we nicked it and asked him to sign it.

"He's was really nice and really down to earth. We sat talking for about half an hour, mainly about his DJ-ing, which from what I heard of it, was pretty good."

The girls have organised for the glove to be raffled during the Sound 2000 festival in Oak Hill Park, Accrington on Sunday .

Tickets for the raffle will be available on the day and at all Bliss gigs leading up to the event.

All proceeds will go towards to the Accrington Blind Society.

Picture: The Bliss girls with Nigel