[4] 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.
[6] 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.
However, after Taylor suffered a stoppage defeat earlier in the month he was handed an automatic suspension, prompting Anthony Hardy to be drafted in as a replacement.
[11] After a TKO win in a non-title fight against Tomas Bartunek in October,[12] Hughes successfully defended his English title on 5 December, defeating Anthony Upton via ten-round unanimous decision (UD) at the Town Hall in Walsall.
The bout took place on 13 May 2016 at the Macron Stadium's Premier Suite in Bolton, with Hughes suffering the second defeat of his career, losing by UD with the judges' scorecards reading 117–112, 117–113, and 115–113.
[17] For his next fight he once again vacated his English title in order to challenge British light-welterweight champion, Tyrone Nurse, on 23 April 2017 at the Leicester Arena.
In a fight that saw Hughes start as the aggressor, he eventually slowed down as he began to tire, going on to suffer his third professional defeat with a UD loss.
[23] He would make a second attempt at the British title in a unification fight against reigning champion Robbie Davies Jr. on 30 March 2019 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.