JOE Hughes may have emphatically got his hands on the Southern Area light-welterweight title last weekend – but he’ll have to wait a little while to show it off in his native Malmesbury.

The 24-year-old is celebrating the biggest victory of his career so far after stopping 2010 Commonwealth Games quarter-finalist Philip Bowes on the big stage at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday night.

Hughes forced ‘Quicksilver’ Bowes’ corner to chuck in the towel in the tenth round, with the former Jamaica international having already been knocked down for a lengthy count earlier in the round.

But the Wiltshire fighter was left to settle for a symbolic title victory after being unable to take home his new Area belt.

“They told me that the belt was in for engraving. It’s a bit frustrating but I’ll just have to wait and see how long it takes them to send it to me,” said Hughes, who tasted victory on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s WBC International heavyweight title win over Denis Bahtkov.

“It was the biggest stage. I was a little bit nervous because it was such a big space and even though the fight wasn’t shown on TV, there were still a lot of people there to watch it.

“But I was confident of doing the job and it felt really good. I’d waited a long time for a crack at this title.

“If everything goes well, then I should be defending the title on December 13 in Weston-super-Mare. I did get a bit of a cut, so I’ve just got to see if that heals alright but I think it will.

“If I win again and defend it,that sets me up for a shot at the English title or an English eliminator.”

Hughes, who is trained and managed by Andy O’Kane at Paddy John’s Gym in Bristol, has shot up to 12th in the British light-welterweight rankings but thinks he’ll have to do things the hard way if he’s to progress into the country’s elite.

“Because I don’t have a big promoter behind me, I can’t offer people a lot of money to come and fight me so I’m probably going to have to go fight away from home if I want to get those big fights,” he said.

“But I don’t mind that. I think that I’m ready to push on and I’m not worried about fighting anyone.”

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