‘Police’ Campbell retires
Dave LeBlond drew first blood for Team Canada to book the first spot into the semi-finals of the Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum Contender Boxing Series at the Chinese Benevolent Association on Wednesday night.
The Canadian boxer got his win after Jamaica’s Donovan “Police” Campbell retired in round two of the five-round contest in the first quarter-final matchup.
Following his hollowed victory, the French-speaking LeBlond, through his manager Samuel Planter who doubled as interpreter, said while it was an easy night for him, he must keep his eye on the prize.
“We are are here to win this title… that was our sole aim from the beginning, and even more so now. The contest was a good and useful one for us in our preparation,” he said.
Planter said the boxer will immediately begin preparation for the next bout.
“[We will] train a little harder… working on stamina, strengthening the punch (and) he is going to make it to the final, I can tell you that,” Planter promised.
With Wednesday night’s victory, the 24-year-old Lebond, bettered his professional winning record by moving to four wins from eight fights
The Canadian started like a house on fire against the 55-year-old Campbell with some telling body blows with little response for the first two rounds.
By then Campbell had taken enough punishment and refused to leave his seat for the third round and a joyous Leblond was declared the winner.
Campbell was a last-minute replacement for the promising 24-year-old Team Jamaican fighter Michael “Wasp” Gardener, who was kicked out of the competition after Leblond refused to go up against a fighter who was overweight at the official weigh in.
Campbell said he got the call “out of the blue” to fight LeBlond.
“Last night (Tuesday) they came at my house and asked me if I wanted to take the fight. It was through certain circumstances that I took this fight. Now, during the fight, in the first round nothing seemed to be clicking, the movement was not there.
“The second stayed the same way, [so] I was not going to go back in there and take those punches. They were not good for the ‘Police’. I said to myself it did not make any sense to go back in there [as] I could meet my death,” noted Campbell.
In the other quarter-final showdowns, Devon “Concrete” Moncriffe will go up against Waseem El Sinawi on June 13; Richard ‘Frog’ Holmes will take Tariq Ismail Salih on June 30; and Nico Yeyo and Ricardo ‘Magic Man’ Salas will do battle on June 27.
In the first of the two amateur fights, Marvin Shirley of Oracabessa Gym took a unanimous decision over Cleveland Stephenson of Heavy Metal Gym in a welterweight contest.
Kimani Dennis of Heavy Metal Gym then reversed the placings against Raheem Pitter from the Boys’ Town Gym by bringing the house down in another welterweight three-rounder with none- stop action.