And a show in Plymouth could be on the cards for the new British welterweight champion
Constantin Ursu (right) during an interview with presenter Ali Drew after winning WBO European & Commonwealth Welterweight titles over Ryan Amos (not pictured)(Image: George Tewkesbury/Top Tier Boxing)
New British welterweight champion Constantin Ursu has already been snapped up by Frank Warren’s Queensberry boxing stable in the wake of a commanding performance in his title showdown on Saturday night – with hints that a show in Plymouth could be on the cards.
Plymouth-trained fighter Ursu comprehensively out-pointed Owen Cooper at the Vaillant Arena to add the British title to his WBO European and Commonwealth straps.
The unanimous win over 12 rounds means he is only the second Plymouth fighter to hold a British boxing title in 100 years – with Scott Dann the only other fighter to do so.
‘Dynamite’ Dann, the St Judes Southpaw, himself broke the city’s 81-year wait for a British champion, which came in 1923.
Yet the manner of Ursu’s win over ‘Worcester Warrior’ Cooper clearly impressed Frank Warren himself, and the X account bearing his name revealed on Sunday that the Plymouth man had joined the Queensberry ranks, less than 24 hours after the title victory.
Ursu became the British and Commonwealth welterweight champion Photo Credit: Queensberry/Leigh Dawney(Image: Plymouth Herald)
In the aftermath of Ursu’s win, his coach Marlee Dann has revealed that Queensberry have already made tentative enquiries about hosting a show on Ursu’s home turf, either at Plymouth Arena – formerly the Pavilions – or even at Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park ground.
Speaking exclusively to The Herald, Marlee said: “We’ve already been asked what Plymouth Pavilions’ capacity is and what the Plymouth Argyle situation is, so it’s looking like the Queensberry promotions team are looking to come to Plymouth.
“It would be nice to sell our Plymouth Pavilions or get Plymouth Argyle fans behind us and sell out Home Park and bring big boxing nights back to Plymouth.
“It’d be nice for me not to be getting in the car and travelling to Derby or London or Brentwood for Constantin’s fights, but also to have it in Plymouth and have the home crowd supporting you and giving Constantin that extra push – it would be an honour and a privilege to be able to do that.”
Ursu’s clear potential, which has been something of a secret in higher boxing echelons, has now been fully revealed, not least because of the fact that Ursu beat Cooper with an injured hand, and less than nine months after detaching his bicep to the extent that he had surgery.
Those injuries accounted at least in part for the contest going the full 12 rounds, whereas Ursu has stopped five of his previous seven opponents.
Constantin Ursu (left) celebrates after winning the WBO European & Commonwealth Welterweight titles(Image: George Tewkesbury/Top Tier Boxing)
Marlee said: “He injured his first knuckle, so he was in a lot of pain with that and he was trying not to let it go as hard as he could.
“But at that point he was throwing punches okay, but [in his post-fight interview] he was more referring to the bicep injury. It was only eight-and-a-half months ago where he had a full bicep detach surgery where his bicep was detached from the actual bone and it to be replaced.
“Normally that takes a good 12 to 18 months to recover from, and before you can box again. So he’s still not got confidence in the power – it’s not fully back – hopefully by the time we step back in the ring he will be firing on all cylinders and comfortable with his arm again.
“I think we could’ve stopped Cooper if we had pressed it a little bit, but I think that Cooper is tough and he’s a very gamely character so I’ll give him credit there.
“But I do think if Constantin’s knuckle wasn’t hurting as much as it was and it’s bicep was 100% then I definitely feel that backhand would’ve been a lot more devastating.”
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He added: “I thought we had him a couple of times, where he was hurt, and perhaps we could have stepped on him a bit more, but I think Constantin also realised that Cooper was trying to set a trap with that with the counter backhand, so he didn’t want to get too greedy.”
Ursu also required stitches after the clash against Cooper, but that was because of a head clash in the later rounds, and his coach was keen to stress that very little in the way of meaningful blows were landed by the Worcester man.
Constantin Ursu (left) in action against Ryan Amos(Image: George Tewkesbury/Top Tier Boxing)
That was reflected in the judges’ scorecards from Saturday’s contest, with Judge Marcus McDonnell scoring the clash 116–112, and Kevin Parker and Bob Williams scoring it 118-110, all in favour of Ursu.
Marlee said: “I wouldn’t say that Cooper won the rounds by anything really, it was just because of cleaner shots, or that he was better than he was in the fifth or sixth rounds.
“I thought that the two judges were right, I only had him winning the seventh and the eighth, and I thought he [Cooper] was doing OK in the 11th but Constantin won the rounds by cleaner work, and in the last two rounds the workrate was in his favour.”
He continued: “I don’t want people to be judging how close the fight was by the damage that Constantin sustained – if you took away the blood and the damage to the eye, it was from a headbutt.
“I would be surprised if Constantin took six clean shots in that fight. The rest was from the head or from elbows or whatever.
“We went there with a gameplan, Constantin stuck to the gameplan, and everything was measured. And believe me, it really was all gameplan. We grilled so many things over the past six weeks – and that is another thing, we only had six weeks to prepare.
“We had the Ryan Amos fight on November 30, and Constantin was back in Moldova having a holiday – he didn’t fly back until January 8.
“If you go back at look at round 12, Constantin absolutely dominates the round. That is not a tired man.”
As for Ursu’s next steps, winning the Lonsdale belt – for those who made three successful defences of a British title – is an obvious ambition.
Yet his trainer is determined for Ursu not to rush into anything.
Constantin Ursu celebrates after winning the WBO European & Commonwealth Welterweight titles(Image: George Tewkesbury/Top Tier Boxing)
“It’s got to be worked out of course but there is names on the list that’s potentially going to be his next opponent,” Marlee said.
“But to be honest as his coach the domestic scene right now, he is far above that, and some of the names which are being touted, I am comfortable that he would take them apart.
“He is only 25 and he’s only had 15 fights, so I am going to learn from what happened with Scott [Dann] in his career where Scott’s manager put him in very early against Howard Eastman where he should have been guided around that.
“Eastman went on to fight for world honours, and Scott was very early in his career and they pushed him too soon.
“A smart man will learn from his mistakes and a wise man will learn from other peoples, and I’m lucky enough to be aware of what happens if you move people too fast and I am fortunate enough to say that I will learn from other people’s mistakes.
“Constantin I feel needs to have another two fights against people at this level to get the rounds underneath him, and the preparation correct, and if that means that we box a voluntary [opponent] and then a mandatory [opponent] then we can decide where we go from there.
“But as it stands the British is ours, the Commonwealth is ours and the European the WBO European belt is ours, so I think we are in a very strong position that makes us be able to be patient and intelligent with our thought process.”
Marlee also wanted to thank those who travelled up to Derby.
He said: “I want to say a massive thanks to all the travelling supporters that came to Derby to support Constantin – and the sponsors that came in to help him, it would not have been possible without them.
“For me right now I just want to say thank you to all the supporters – there were 400 Owen Cooper fans, but when Constantin’s name was read out, they gave a good account of themselves and everyone heard them, so I was very happy.”