Joe Hughes (17-4-1, 7 KOs) could become a two-time European Super Lightweight on Thursday night. It would be a fantastic achievement.

The 29-year-old Brit faces current Euro topper Sandor Martin (35-2, 13 KOs) on his turf in Barcelona as Matchroom Boxing take their promotional empire to Spain for the first time.

Hughes' story is not your typical boxing tale. He was born with Erb's Palsy. A condition which is caused by paralysis to the arm, in Joe's case the right arm, providing difficulties in moving the upper arm and shoulder. Hughes, who made his professional debut in October 2010, has won four belts in his career (Southern Area, IBO International, English and European). It would be a satisfying career whether you had a physical condition to contend with or not.

The left side of Hughes' body has to absorb more punishment during training than your average fighter and because of that, the first half of his career brought about an injury to his shoulder, surgery on his left elbow and a torn cartilage in his left wrist.

"I think that’s why I’ve been so inactive," Hughes told Boxing Scene while discussing the amount of fights he has had in over nine years.

"Averaging two fights a year is horrendous. I feel like I should have done more than I have in terms of the titles I’ve won. I feel like if I had different decisions, on different nights, in certain fights I’ve had, I would have had more belts. I would have been multiple time British champion. I’ve held the European but I should have held it and defended it and who knows what else. I don’t feel cheated. I’m privileged to be where I am. I’ve achieved way more than anyone could have possibly predicted except from me."

The wear and tear box may be comfortably ticked off in Hughes career but greater ambitions than European titles remain.

"The goal for me is obviously to go as far as possible and that is by winning a world title. I feel like I can still achieve that goal. I am only 29. I have got wear and tear on me but I do feel I’m coming into my prime years now with my experience. If I can be clever with my training then the best is yet to come. I am satisfied with what I’ve done. To have won a European title with everything that has happened in life and my career is a big achievement."

Hughes had been scheduled to fight the relentless Geordie Lewis Ritson in August on a Matchroom promotion for a vacant WBA Continental strap. A back injury put paid to Hughes' ambitions of taking on Ritson but sees no reason why the contest could not be rearranged, should he reign in Spain tomorrow night. And the prize on offer would be a level up on what was at stake for the two of them back in August.

"Ritson is ranked number two with the WBA now and given their link with Matchroom why not rearrange the fight we were meant to have and make it an eliminator for a world title. I think it would be dead easy to make and then the sky’s the limit. World title next, who knows. In an ideal world. Fingers crossed."

It is not over confidence from Hughes who knows exactly how hard it is to win on the road. All eyes are on Sandor Martin but confidence is taken by a win on the road for Hughes in Italy, when he defeated Andrea Scarpa last year to claim the European title. Poor scoring by judge Robert Verwijs (who somehow reached a scorecard of 116-112 for the Italian) could have cost him on the night if either Predrag Aleksic or Francisco Alloza Rosa had agreed on his choice of winner.

"Italy is quite well known for being hard to get a decision. I’d say they were fair to me, well two of them were, one had me losing. I do not know how. I got the decision in the end," Hughes recalled.

Hughes would lose the title in his first defence against Robbie Davies Jr in the challenger's city of Liverpool in March this year. A close fight that was nip and tuck but in the end was awarded to Davies Jr 115-113, 115-114 and 118-110. It was not a fight to shout "robbery" to anyone who would listen but the 118-110 from Terry O'Connor was hard to fathom. Hughes knows that poor judging is not restricted just to one or two counties.

"I feel like the judging in England isn’t great anyway," Hughes said and then discussed the risk, if any, of being unfairly treated on the cards tomorrow against Martin.

"I try not to worry about it really. I feel like I was hard done by in my last fight [against Robbie Davies Jr] as well. What’s the point in worrying about it. I’m going to go in there and do my very best to win. I’m confident I’ll do enough to win. If the judges see it that way then brilliant, but if they don’t there’s nothing I can really do about it. I’m at the stage now where I’m trying not to stress about it really because it’s out of my hands. But if I go in there and knock him out that’d be lovely, but I’m not a huge one punch knockout merchant or anything like that. Apart from doing that there’s nothing I can do about it so I’ll just try and win as clear as I can and let the cards fall where they may when it comes to the judging.

"I’m hoping with it being the first Matchroom Spain show, the eyes will be on it a bit and they’ll want to put on a fair scorecard so it can attract fighters to go to Spain because fighters are not going to go there if they think there is no point, and they are going to get stitched up. So fingers crossed."

Hughes still believes he should be going into the ring tomorrow night as the champion making the second defence of his title. And believes his 26-year-old foe will be out to prove a point.

"I feel like I should be going over there defending it rather than challenging for it. I think that’s in their mindset as well. I saw something a while ago where someone showed me a Spanish boxing article where Martin said he thought I won the fight [against Davies Jr] anyway. Martin wanted to fight me to prove he legitimately deserves the title I and can have nothing but respect for him doing that really. I’m sure there were easier voluntaries he could have had. I’m going into it with a champion’s mindset for sure and hopefully if everything goes well on the night I can walk away with my belt again."

Twitter @shaunrbrown