JOE Hughes would love to wet his new baby’s head later this year by stepping back into the ring and returning to winning ways.

The 25-year-old Malmesbury fighter, who was unsuccessful in his bid to relieve Jack Catterall of his WBO inter-continental super-lightweight title in Bolton last month, is currently awaiting the birth of his first child, with he and fiancée Amy expecting to welcome their son into the world in September.

Following his loss to Catterall on May 13, which also saw his English belt become vacant, Hughes was touted for a fight on a show in Weston-super-Mare next week but that appearance looks unlikely, with the Wiltshire man now focusing on making his comeback after he becomes a father.

“I’m due to have a boy in September, so things will change for me a lot then and I don’t want to be away when my fiancée is going to drop,” said Hughes, who trains at Paddy John’s Gym in Bristol.

“I did speak about fighting in Weston-super-Mare. I had a few weeks off after my last fight but I feel fit and ready to go but with such a short space of time to sell tickets, I don’t think that it’s going to happen – I don’t think that it’s feasible financially.

“My manager (Andy O’Kane) is still talking to Frank Warren’s people because they said that they’d be interested in using me again after the last fight but it’s easy to say that, so we’ll have to wait and see what happens then.

“I think that we’ll stick with our original plan of getting me out fighting in September or October.”