JOE Hughes can put his feet up and savour Christmas and New Year safe in the knowledge that he has righted a wrong.

Just over seven months on from losing the English super-lightweight title outside of the ring, the 26-year-old was handed the chance for redemption against Midlands Area champion Andy Keates in Bristol at the weekend and took his opportunity with both hands at the Action Indoor Sports Centre.

The Malmesbury man claimed a unanimous points decision over Staffordshire's Keates, 25, with ringside judges Shaun Messer, Lee Cook and Jeff Hinds scoring the contest 98-94, 100-92, 97-94 respectively as Hughes reclaimed the St George’s strap, which had been left vacant.

In 2017, the reinstalled English champion can get to work on engineering a shot at the British title but for the next few weeks at least, Hughes will concentrate on ensuring that three-month-old son Alby enjoys the festive period.

“The show being the week before Christmas was perfect because it means that I can have a few weeks off and enjoy them – I just need to make sure I don’t put much weight on,” said Hughes, who was originally stripped of the English belt after losing to fellow Englishman Jack Catterall in a fight for the WBO inter-continental belt in May.

“I’ll take some time off and see what’s next. The British is still the goal but if I’ve got to fight in an eliminator or go straight for it; I don’t know.

“It works differently for different fighters, so we’ll just have to see what happens, but getting the English title back puts you in a great position.”

After admitting that he started slowly, Hughes was pleased with the way that he overcame Keates courtesy of a more measured approach.

The Wiltshire fighter said: “I’m used to having to be the one that goes chasing after people all the time, so it was nice to fight someone tough, who wanted to come forward.

“I got hit with a few shots that I shouldn’t have in the first few rounds but after that, I took over and won it from there.

“The plan was to use my boxing skills and it was nice to be able to use the stuff that I work on in the gym.”