CRAYFORD super bantamweight Lewis Pettitt has been crowned southern area champion after a close fought battle with Devon’s Jamie Speight.

Friday’s contest for the vacant belt at Gillingham was the fight of the night, entertaining the crowd consistently from the opening bell to the final round.

The pair fought valiantly without breaks and the scoring was as close as 95-97 in favour of the Crayford ace.

This was Pettitt’s second crack at a southern area title and will no doubt be a dream come true and a pathway to bigger fights in the near future as he looks to target the English title next.

The action was energetic from the start, with Pettitt edging the opening couple of rounds.

Speight, who was always in contention, then began to come out on top over the following three rounds and at the midway point was likely leading on the scorecards.

Pettitt then dug deep and took the cleaner shots and displayed the classier work from the sixth round to the closing bell.

Both fighters gave it their all and fought courageously and the final points score was a true representation of the lively encounter.

Follow the Crayford fighter on Twitter @LewisPettitt