Bath’s Hughes Defied Odds To Reach Boxing Elite

There are countless tales of youths brought to the boxing ring in order to change the route that their lives were taking. For many, it was a way out of trouble, an opportunity to avoid heading down a path that would only lead to heartbreak and tragedy.

For Bath’s Joe Hughes, stepping into the ring and trading punches with a fellow pugilist was also a form of therapy. In his case, though, it was designed to improve his physical well being.

Born with Erb’s Palsy, Hughes defied his supposed physical limitations as well as the boxing odds to win both British and European titles in the squared circle. In a sport that can end in an abrupt and brutal manner, Hughes fashioned a most heartwarming tale in the ring.

"Joe Hughes" by SkySports is licensed under CC BY 3.0

From Power Ranger To Power Puncher

Hughes suffered a dislocated shoulder during birth. This resulted in his suffering Erb’s Palsy. It’s a condition that results in paralysis due to the nerve damage suffered in the upper arm.

“When I was born, my shoulder was stuck on my mum's hip, and the midwife just pulled me out by my head as hard as she could,” Hughes told BBC Wiltshire. “As she did, my shoulder was dislocated and there was a lot of nerve and muscle damage to my right shoulder and due to that it hasn't grown properly.”

As a result of this condition, Hughes’ right arm never developed fully.

"It's about three inches shorter than my left arm and it's quite a bit weaker,” Hughes said.

Doctors assessed that he’d never be able to partake in manual labour or run in a straight line. Competing in any form of contact sports would be out of the question.

Hughes was assigned a series of exercises to do as therapy for his condition, but as a young boy, he found these tasks to be monotonous and disinteresting. “Since I was born I had to do physiotherapy on it and obviously when you're a child you don't want to do those standard exercises,” Hughes said. “It's boring for a child.”

His father recognized this, but also knew that his son would be required to exercise his arm in order to increase the potential for its development. As Joe was a fan of the Power Rangers television show, his dad convinced him to take up taekwondo when he was five years old.

From there, young Joe advanced to the ring. He was eight years old when he first set foot in Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club.

His father was basically tricking his son into exercising his arm. Little did he know that he was also putting his boy on a career path.

"Joe Hughes vs Sandor Martín" by DAZN is licensed under CC BY 3.0

A Game Fighter

Hughes set as a goal to contest one boxing bout once he started working out at the gym, just to prove he could do it. Instead, after 70 amateur fights, he opted to turn pro in 2010.

“I had my whole amateur career at Malmesbury and haven't looked back since,” Hughes said. “And it's my job now, so quite a funny profession for someone with my condition.”

Quite a successful profession for him as it would turn out. Over his career, Hughes, 30, has held the IBO International light-welterweight title, the English light-welterweight title and the European light-welterweight title.

Two of his biggest career highlights came in the ring in Bath. At the Bath Pavilion in 2015, he defeated Anthony Hardy to capture the English light-welterweight belt. One year earlier at the Forum in Bath, Hughes downed Kristian Dochev to earn the International Masters light-welterweight title, the first belt of his pro career.

Hughes is 17-6-1 as a pro and has never been knocked out.

“Most people would think you've got Erb's palsy, there's no way you can possibly be successful in a sport such as boxing and I just want to prove that yes, you can,” Hughes said. “As long as you're willing to put the work in, you can definitely achieve it.”

He often wonders what he could’ve accomplished in the ring with two healthy arms.

“If my right was as good as my left, personally I think I would be world champion,” Hughes told Boxing Social. “I was at European level with one arm, so why couldn’t I be world champion if I had two?”