THE father of a baby who was born extremely prematurely is tonight hoping to raise an incredible £17,000 for York's Special Care Baby Unit.

Dean McQuade, 26, and his wife Charlene, 27, lost their son Alfie after he was born at 26 weeks.

Born weighing 2lbs 2oz, the tiny baby had received the utmost care at York Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) for two days but had been too unwell to survive.

In thanks for the support given to his family by the unit, Dean has joined forces with Dave Phillips, co-founder of the Legions Thai-boxing gym in Fifth Avenue, York, to put on a charity boxing night this evening.

The sold-out event is expected to raise £17,000 - half of the total raised for the SCBU in an entire year in 2014.

Dean, of Shipton-by-Beningbrough, said: "A lot of people there tonight will know someone whose baby has been cared for at the SCBU.

"It's important we have the staff here in York and the machines they need to help babies."

“The Night of Alfie’s Legions” is scheduled to take place at the York Railway Institute in Queen Street today and will see 20 martial arts exponents and enthusiasts stepping through the ropes into the boxing ring.

Some 500 tickets have been sold for the event as well as tickets for VIP tables, and fighters have been gathering sponsorship.

The cause is also close to the heart of co-organiser Dave, whose twins Roxy and Jack were cared for at the SCBU.

Dean, who has two daughters Rimini, four and Kaci, three, has previously raised about £1500 for the SCBU by staging The Full Monty at The Crescent in Blossom Street.

He decided on the latest fundraising plan for the SCBU while on honeymoon in Menorca.

"I was lying on a sun lounger when I came up with the idea and now it looks like we are going to raise this amount," he said, "I never thought it would take off as it has."

Doors open at 5.15pm and action starts at 6pm.