SACRIFICING home comforts proved of little concern to Joe Hughes as he classily defended his English super-lightweight title on Saturday night - more than 85 miles away from his native Malmesbury.

The 25-year-old was forced to travel to Walsall Town Hall to make the first title defence of his career, which doubled as an eliminator for the British crown, but Hughes failed to show an iota of homesickness as he dispatched the previously-unbeaten Anthony Upton.

After twice knocking down his Belfast-based but London-born opponent, who is trained by former two-weight world champion Ricky Hatton, Hughes took a comfortable unanimous decision (97-93, 96-93, 97-91) to add a glossy finishing touch to a successful year.

“Because I was away from home, I never felt as pressured,” said Hughes, who is trained and managed by Andy O’Kane at Paddy John’s Gym in Bristol.

“I just think that I’m going to go in there and give it my all because half the time, you get turned over away and you’ve got to take risks.

“With the way that I box, I’m going to have to take risks because I’m not going to be given anything on a plate. I have to go out and take it.

“Otherwise, I’d just be waiting around on the shelf all the time. I might be English champion, but nobody will come and fight me on a home show so I’ve had to travel to get the fight.

“We knew it was a tough fight and we knew he was a good kid, and we knew it would be tough to win with travelling and all that sort of stuff.

“The two knockdowns played a big part because I thought the rest of the fight was quite close.

“I felt like I had the edge but those two knockdowns cemented the fight for me. Without them, I think I would have won by a point or two.”

A typically cagey opening round saw Hughes set to work on negating Upton’s superior reach and height, with both competitors looking unflinchingly determined in their individual quests to move a step closer to a shot at the British title.

The Malmesbury man upped the tempo in the second round and whilst Upton countered effectively on a number of occasions, the reigning champion began to secure some early success.

Upton was forced to go on the defensive in the third as Hughes walked him down and began to channel his punching power and in the fourth, the Londoner launched a salvo late in the round but walked onto a punishing left hand.

Upton improved in the fifth as he looked to claw himself into the ascendancy but despite landing a number of shots, his efforts did little to slow Hughes’ relentless offensive.

The challenger did drop down to one knee midway through the sixth round but his fall was adjudged a slip, however, seconds later, Upton was down for real as a shuddering body shot from Hughes sent the Londoner sprawling to the canvas, where he received a count after the bell.

Champion Hughes roared into action after the break, flying out of the blocks and knocking Upton from his feet in the corner of the ring, however, the Hatton-trained man took an eight-count and survived to fight on.

In the eighth round, Upton was left hanging on, with his guard almost dissipating completely as he dug deep to remain in the contest.

The Malmesbury champion continued to hit the target but his opponent dug in resolutely and eventually regained his composure to force Hughes to stay right on his mettle.

Despite looking physically out on his feet at the death, Upton continued to make Hughes work for his victory as he somehow mustered up a second wind but the result was a foregone conclusion, with the Wiltshire title-holder marching on in style.

Earlier in the night, Swindon super-featherweight Joe Beeden was outpointed 39-37 by Burton debutant Leon Gower.