IBO INTERNATIONAL super-lightweight champion Joe Hughes aims to be impossible for the British Boxing Board of Control to ignore as he continues his English title shot quest.

The 24-year-old Malmesbury fighter boosted his 11-1 record with the first international strap of his career last weekend, cruising to victory over Georgian Jaba Shalutashvili at the Action Indoor Sports Centre in Bristol with an eighth-round stoppage.

Hughes inflicted a first defeat on Londoner Philip Bowes to claim the Southern Area title last year and was previously pencilled in for an English eliminator against Robbie Davis Jr, only for the fight to fall through.

But he’s hoping that he’s making a big enough noise to ensure that he won’t be overlooked for much longer.

“My manager Andy (O’Kane) petitions the board every single month,” said Hughes, who trains at Paddy John’s Gym in Bristol.

“Every month, they have a meeting where they decide who is going to fight for the English, who will be the challenger and who’ll fight in the eliminators.

“Andy rings them up and emails them every month and so far, I’ve been ignored every time this year since that eliminator fell through. For that eliminator, there was a mix-up with the purse bids or something ,and after that Andy said we wanted to fight for the title.

“I think the kid I was supposed to fight has injured himself anyway, so if he can’t fight, why can’t I have a shot?

“The champion, Tommy Martin, he’s a very good kid, he’s very skilful and strong. It’d be a tough fight but that’s what I want. If you’re going to be fighting for the championship of England, you’re going to be fighting someone good.”

Hughes added: “We were struggling to get any English lads to fight me for the amount of money we pay on these shows, because it obviously all comes down to ticket sales, so we had to go the international way.

“That’s two stoppages in a row now - I had a few where I didn’t have any stoppages and I’ve got two in a row now, both against tough opponents as well. Hopefully I’m just knocking at the door because I keep winning.”