AFTER pulling off the first title defence of his professional career and taking an almighty step closer to a shot at the British crown, Joe Hughes revealed that he had made yet another sacrifice.

The 25-year-old, from Malmesbury, passed up on home advantage to fight with Anthony Upton for his English super-lightweight title in Walsall last weekend and post-fight confessed that, like so many times in the past, he had been hampered by injury.

But it mattered little for the champion as he cruised to a classy unanimous decision (97-93, 96-93, 97-91) over the previously unbeaten Upton – trained by former two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton – to not only defend his St George’s strap but seal victory in a British eliminator.

Hughes, who trains at Paddy John’s Gym in Bristol, was forced to fight at less than 100 per cent, also foregoing the home advantage traditionally afforded to reigning champions, but says he had no choice but to answer opportunity’s knock.

“I’ve had a few setbacks in my career and in the lead up to this one, I had a few things go wrong but I just thought ‘forget it - I’m just going to do it’,” said Hughes.

“My left shoulder’s been playing up for the last month and we’ve had to go real easy in a lot of the training.

“But I just had to think ‘who knows when I’ll get another opportunity for the eliminator?’ and it’s hard enough not needing the money to pay the bills so I just thought ‘stuff it’ and ‘I don’t care how injured I get’.

“I didn’t care how much it hurt in the fight and the risk paid off. It just puts me one step closer in the pecking order to get a shot at the British – that’s what I want next.

“Whether I’m going to have to have some other fights before then; who knows? But I’d like a shot. That’s what I’m in it for and that’s what I want.

“We work hard in the gym. Everyone around me works hard and puts the effort in for me, taking me places and things like that. I’ve got a great team supporting me and I put the work in as well, and it’s starting to pay off.”

Despite fighting more than 85 miles from Malmesbury, Hughes had plenty of support in the West Midlands, with his father, also Joe, hailing from Walsall, whilst his grandparents Ray and Mary Hughes, and uncle and aunt, Ian and Caroline Webster, are also based nearby.