JOE Hughes has his eyes on the English light-welterweight title after making the latest big step in his comeback from long-term injury last weekend.

The 23-year-old, from Malmesbury, notched up his eighth professional victory on Saturday with a comfortable 60-54 points victory over Newcastle’s Dougie Curran at the Oasis Leisure Centre in Swindon – his second triumph since an injury lay-off of more than a year.

Hughes, who trains at Paddy John’s Gym in Bristol, was originally due to take on South African fighter Mitch Prince (12-2-1) before a late change of opponent and the former ABA champion says that he’s ready to make a long overdue title challenge.

“To be honest, I was really gutted not to have the chance to fight Prince but there was some sort of mix-up involving the match-maker and the promoter – I don’t really know what happened,” said Hughes.

“But I’d only really found out I was supposed to be fighting him about a week before, so it didn’t matter too much that the opponent changed again.

“He was still a tough kiddy and I tried really hard to get him out of there in the last few rounds but he held on. I felt good out there and we wanted to work on having a higher work-rate out there, which I did.

“I don’t want to be fighting journeymen anymore and I’m looking to have some meaningful fights.

“My manager (Andy O’Kane) is pushing for me to have a shot at the English title and I know I’m ready for that. I’ve just got to wait for the opportunity to come along.”