‘ONCE bitten, twice shy’ Joe Hughes can finally breathe easy after getting his hands on the English belt he’s long coveted on Saturday night.

The 24-year-old became the new English light-welterweight champion at the Bath Pavilion but only after a gruelling battle with the tricky Anthony Hardy and the heart-stopping moment where one of the ringside judges ruled against him at the end of ten rounds, before the Malmesbury fighter took a split decision (98-92, 98-92, 95-97).

Hughes’ relentless pressure style was enough to negate his Durham opponent’s superior height and range and secure a landmark national triumph, even if the final announcement was more nerve-wracking than he would have liked.

“He gave me a good fight and fair play to him taking it as well because not many people wanted to fight me,” said Hughes.

“In the first half of the fight, I was trying to put the pressure on him. I wanted to try and work him but I could see that I wasn’t really getting that much through and it was getting scrappy, so I decided to just box for a couple of rounds.

“I then thought I was winning comfortably and when it came to the last two rounds, I thought I’d step it up and make it clear.

“And I’m glad I did because I don’t know what one of the judges saw. One of the first ones was 98-92 and I thought ‘yeah, that’s about right’ but then when the other one gave it to him 97-95, I couldn’t understand it.

“I’ve had plenty of fights where I thought I’ve won and I haven’t. I don’t like to be overconfident. You see a lot of people jumping around in the ring before the decision’s been announced and I’m almost ‘once bitten, twice shy’ with fights.

“You always think the worst and that’s why I wanted to put the pressure on and take it out of the judges’ hands but I couldn’t get him out of there and fair play to him.”