Joe Hughes is an English professional boxer who was born with Erb's palsy. He held the European light-welterweight title from 2018 to 2019 and challenged twice for the same title, along with two attempts at the British light-welterweight title between 2017 and 2019. Early life Joe Hughes was born on 6 August 1990 in Bath, Somerset, and grew up in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. He developed Erb's palsy after dislocating his shoulder during birth, a condition which causes paralysis due to damaged nerves. Due to the condition, his right arm failed to develop properly and is three inches shorter than his left. Doctors told his parents that he would never be able to run in a straight line, have a manual job or participate in contact sports. His introduction to combat sports came through taekwondo around the age of five. His father took him to lessons as an alternative to physiotherapy for his shoulder, with Hughes stating in an interview with BBC Sports, "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, it's boring for a child." He first got into boxing three years later after his father took him to the Malmesbury Amateur Boxing Club at the age of eight. Professional career Early career Hughes made his professional debut on 16 October 2010, scoring a six-round points decision (PTS) victory over Jason Carr at the Troxy in London. After three more wins, two by stoppage, he suffered the first defeat of his career against Joe Elfidh in March 2012, losing by PTS over six rounds. Following defeat he secured four more wins, one by stoppage, before facing Kristian Dochev for the vacant International Masters light-welterweight title on 5 April 2014 at The Forum in Bath. Hughes captured his first professional title, defeating Dochev via PTS over ten rounds. In his next fight he defeated future Commonwealth light-welterweight champion, Philip Bowes, on 11 October 2014 at The O2 Arena in London, capturing the vacant Southern Arena light-welterweight title with a technical knockout (TKO) in the tenth and final round. In his next bout he fought for a regional IBO title, defeating Jaba Shalutashvili on 18 April 2015 at the Whitchurch Sports Centre in Bristol, capturing the vacant IBO International light-welterweight title via eighth-round TKO. English title Following his win over Shalutashvili, Hughes was scheduled to face