By Elliot Foster

Jack Catterall maintained his undefeated record in a cracking top-of-the-bill showdown.

The 22-year-old Chorley star retained his WBO Inter-Continental super-lightweight title,  exclusively live on BoxNation.

Catterall, who got the decision on all three judges’ scorecards by margins of 115-113, 117-112 and 117-113, was forced into a toughie against the miracle man Joe Hughes at the Premier Suite at Bolton Wanderers’ Macron Stadium.

He got a unanimous decision, Catterall, and is now the mandatory challenger to the British super-lightweight title after beating the Malmesbury man in a final eliminator and is next in line to face the winner of the clash for the crown between holder Tyrone Nurse and challenger Willie Limond on May 28 at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

But despite the simplicity of the scorecards, they don’t display the whole story.

Catterall got the job done against Hughes, who has one arm shorter than the other due to a condition, and says that he wants to be as active as possible in the coming months.

“I’m going on holiday next week,” ‘El Gato’, who is trained by Lee Beard, told BoxNation’s Steve Bunce.

“But I’m happy to cancel the holiday and [if it can be done] I’d fight on July 9 [at the Manchester Arena as part of the undercard to Tyson Fury’s world heavyweight title rematch against Wladimir Klitschko].”

Catterall advanced to 15-0 (9 KOs) with the victory, but fantastically brave challenger Hughes, who holds the English belt, unfortunately slipped to 14-2 (6 KOs) in defeat.

Jimmy Kelly Jr. got back to winning ways with a points victory.

The Wythenshawe former world title challenger was showcased exclusively live on BoxNation as he got the better of Michael Mora over eight rounds.

Kelly, who was stopped inside seven rounds in December when he challenged Liam Smith for the WBO super-welterweight crown, returned as part of the undercard to Jack Catterall’s WBO Inter-Continental super-lightweight title defence against Joe Hughes at the Premier Suite at Bolton Wanderers’ Macron Stadium.

And it was something of a one-sided showing against the Spanish-based Nicaraguan, who slipped to 11-8 (4 KOs) and hasn’t recorded a victory since March, 2014, as Kelly advanced to 17-1 (7 KOs) after being awarded the decision –– despite two knockdowns in the final round –– by a margin of 80 points to 72 on the scorecard of referee Mark Lyson.

The 23-year-old, who got back on the horse in what was his first fight under the tutelage of new trainer Lee Beard, who incidentally is also his manager, will surely now be hoping to get back in the mix for domestic titles after being unsuccessful in the surprise shot at the Liverpudlian’s global honours.

Meanwhile, his gym-mate Jordan Thompson got a one-round stoppage over Mateusz Gatek.

The visitor, who is now 4-7, failed to beat the count after just 75 seconds following a thunderous left-hand by ‘Troublesome’, who advanced to 3-0, all of which have come by stoppage.