A fit and mobile looking Donovan ‘Police’ Campbell staked his claim for another shot at winning the Wray & Nephew Contender Boxing series Welterweight title when he outfoxed and outboxed Christopher ‘Shaka’ Henry for a unanimous decision to reach the semi-final stages of the 2014 edition of the Contender series at the Chinese Benevolent Association Auditorium on Wednesday night.

This was the first time in the Contenders’ four-year-old history that the 16 fighters in the Contender series were not from Jamaica, but also from the wider Caribbean. This sought to give legitimacy to the Wray & Nephew Contender Boxing series as for the first time Jamaican boxers had to face opponents other than their own Jamaican boxers in the series.

Two separate camps were therefore organised with the Jamaican boxers fighting under the banner of Team Jamaica and their Caribbean counterparts under the Team Caribbean banner.

With Team Jamaica’s Tsetsi Davis and Sakimo Mullings already through to the semis along with Howard Eastman from Team Caribbean, Campbell’s victory gave Jamaica a three to one advantage ratio in the semi-final countdown that could weigh heavily in favour of one of the combatants from Jamaica walking away with the top prize of $2 million and the title of Jamaica’s Ultimate Welterweight Boxer.

With Campbell making it to the semis, he will face the number one seed Mullings in semi-final one scheduled for June 18 with last year’s runner-up Davis facing the number two seed Howard Eastman in the other semi-final on June 25 for a place in the final.

These two fights will be staged over eight rounds up from the six-rounds qualifiers.

For the final preliminary fight in the Contender Boxing series countdown, the two opponents looked geared to the teeth for a classic showdown between two capable boxers. It was one that never really materialised in a way that one had visualised it would.

“Suppose I tell you, me get two healthy box and that wake me up,” said Campbell, referring to early blows received from Henry. Campbell’s handlers then advised him to “go out there and work man”.

“From the second round me start tek it to him and so me get the victory,” said the victor.

Discovering that Henry was no welterweight pansy, Campbell said that he was advised to “close mark him (and) don’t leave him an inch”.

It was a piece of advice that prompted the ‘Police’ to start unlocking the door to victory. And by the fourth round, the fight could have been all over for Henry, but luckily for him Campbell does not possess that knockout punch.

He nonetheless carried on gallantly, and in the absence of such an arsenal and Henry who appeared to be on a slow boat to China, Campbell began to pile up the points as a defenseless looking Henry had little or no answer to the barrages.

Henry was on the other end of flush clean upper cuts, telling left jabs and body blows, which absorbed to the face and body before the bell intervened to stop the carnage just when a pent up, sold-out crowd was just settling back for more action.

Henry admitted his performance was below par.

“I tried to push but after the first round (but) the power just was not there and I became flat after that. But I take my hat off to him, he is a good fighter,” he said.