IN ORDER to be the best, Joe Hughes has no qualms trying to beat the best as he looks ahead to a potential clash with the highly-rated Jack Catterall.

The British Boxing Board of Control have called for purse bids for a final eliminator for the British super-lightweight title between Malmesbury’s Hughes (14-1) and Lancashire’s WBO inter-continental champion Catterall (14-0), in which Hughes’ English belt will also be on the line.

Tyrone Nurse (32-2-1) is the current incumbent of the British crown but Frank Warren-promoted ‘El Gato’ Catterall, 22, is rated top of the British rankings by BoxRec, with Hughes ninth.

Purse bids for the contest are due in on Wednesday, February 10, with the clash to take place by the end of May, and Malmesbury’s 26-year-old English champion is buoyed by the prospect of locking horns with Catterall.

“We wanted to put in to be mandatory for the British title but he must have done the same thing, so they’ve put us up to fight each other,” said Hughes, who beat Anthony Hardy last July to get his hands on the St George’s strap, before subsequently defending his title against the Ricky Hatton-trained Anthony Upton in Walsall in December.

“I think it’s a great fight. He’s someone that’s been touted for a world title and I obviously want to try and upset that.

“He’s a very good fighter. He’s ranked top of the British rankings by BoxRec and also 15th in the world with them, and he’s also seventh with the WBO.

“He’s highly-rated but rankings are subjective. He’s fought international fighters rather than top-ranked British guys but he must want that British title.

“He’s not fought Tyrone Nurse and in my opinion, to be the champion, you have to beat the champion but we’ll have to fight each other to be able to do that.

“I assume that he wants the fight, so we’ll just wait and see what happens.

“I’m training for it already and I’d imagine that it will happen at the tail end of April.”