Crawley fighters Scott James and Ahmed Miah put in star turns for the host club against an Army select team,

James, a heavyweight, rounded off the evening with a thrilling victory against Steve Reed (Southwick-Savages) at Bewbush Leisure Centre on Wednesday night.

He jabbed and hooked from the start against the taller Reed, but the third round was much closer with both fighters registering plenty of body shots, before James took a unanimous decision from the judges.

Miah, the Southern Counties ABA featherweight champion, also took a unanimous decision over Brighton's Andy Graham after three rounds.

He dominated the first two rounds, although Graham came back into contention in the third, but Miah had too much for his opponent and won his first outing since the ABA Championships earlier this year.

Crawley's other fighter, Kevin Turner, was pipped by Colchester's Aaron Ball.

Ball had just too much for Turner in their welterweight contest.

Although Turner appeared to have the best of the first round, Ball threw some telling punches in the second and the southpaw did just enough to take a unanimous decision.

Crawley Amateur Boxing Club staged nine bouts in an experimental midweek slot.

But chairman Geoff Hopcraft said: "This will probably be the last time that we bring boxing to Crawley.

"The grassroots supporters deserted the club and I doubt we will be doing an open show like this again.

"It was very sad that we did not get the punters through the door after our head coach Paddy Harmey had made great efforts in match-making the show with nine superb bouts on a very good night's boxing."

Former undisputed world middleweight champion, Alan Minter, and son Ross, a recent addition to the professional ranks, watched the action.

Current British super-bantamweight champion Michael Alldis was also on hand to present awards.

Bognor ABC fighter Ben Abbott beat Lee Mercer over three rounds on a unanimous decision after an impressive display.

Other bouts saw B. Frankham of St Marys beat L. Scott on a majority verdict, while Ben Allen from the Lawrence Gym beat John Convey (St Marys) on a unanimous decision after a classy contest. Army man Phil Gill also defeated Epsom and Ewell's Nick Bond.

This year's Effingham Park show goes ahead on October 26 at Effingham Park Hotel at Copthorne.