{"id":755955,"date":"2026-08-31T20:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T20:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/755955\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T20:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T20:50:11","slug":"plymouth-champion-gets-high-praise-from-boxing-great-oleksandr-usyk-after-flawless-title-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/755955\/","title":{"rendered":"Plymouth champion gets high praise from boxing great Oleksandr Usyk after ‘flawless’ title defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Constantin Ursu was over the moon after his chat with former undisputed world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk<\/p>\n

16:49, 31 Aug 2026Updated 16:51, 31 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Constantin Ursu celebrates with the title belts after victory over Ben Vaughan in their BBBofC British and Commonwealth Boxing Council Welterweight title fight on the Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic: Natural Born Thriller fight card at The O2 Arena on August 29, 2026 (Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Former undisputed world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk personally called Constantin Ursu to offer his praise after the British welterweight title defence on Saturday night, as plaudits continue to roll in for the Plymouth man\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

Ursu\u2019s trainer Marlee Dann said Usyk spent 30 minutes on the phone to the Moldovan Monster after welterweight challenger Ben Vaughan was comprehensively dispatched at the O2.<\/p>\n

Ursu dominated the fight, it became a bloodbath by the seventh round as a cut had opened up over Vaughan\u2019s right eye, albeit from a clash of heads.<\/p>\n

Vaughan was twice checked out by the ringside doctor over the severity of his injury, and after the second check prior to round eight, the fight was halted on medical advice.<\/p>\n

But the performance has earned praise from a number of high-profile figures, with Usyk even reaching out personally.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oleksandr Usyk during a press conference at The Pelligon in Canary Wharf, London. Picture date: Tuesday April 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

Dann revealed: \u201cConstantin said he [Usyk] just wanted to speak to him about the fight, and there were a lot of laughs and jokes \u2013 it was nice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a friendly nice conversation between two people who know boxing, and Usyk said to Constantin that Vaughan was a dirty fighter and it wasn\u2019t nice to watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he complimented Constantin incredibly well and Constantin was really happy with the words that he said; Usyk gave him a couple of pointers in terms of things he could have done, but these are small things.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very good for Constantin to have someone of Usyk\u2019s standard, of that level, to ring him up and say to him \u2018look mate, you\u2019re very good, that was really impressive\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dann added: \u201cFor Usyk to say that, it makes you realise that you\u2019re on the right road, you are making progress, and that you are in the right realms of where you need to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Usyk didn\u2019t believe it, he wouldn\u2019t say it, and in fact he wouldn\u2019t have made the phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Constantin Ursu (right) celebrates winning his welterweight bout against Ben Vaughan at The O2 Arena, London.(Image: Steven Paston\/PA Wire. )<\/p>\n

Dann said that well-known boxing coach Adam Booth \u2013 former trainer of champion fighter David Haye \u2013 also offered his praise, and has tipped Ursu as a future world champion.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cI went back to the locker room, and Adam Booth was the first person who text me when I got my phone out \u2013 I had a message from Adam to say \u2018fantastic performance, future world champion, huge potential\u2019. It was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together with praise from commentators including Prince Naseem Hamed, Dann said it showed they were doing the right things.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWhen you\u2019ve got Adam Booth being the first person to message me, and Oleksandr Usyk the first person to call Constantin, and Prince Naseem saying those sort of things on the television, then you are clearly making the right people say \u2018hang on a minute\u2019 \u2013 you\u2019re not impressing people who don\u2019t know about boxing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the ones who really know the business, so it\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ursu suffered a minor cut above one eye because of a head clash, and Vaughan, while durable, did not earn many points for style.<\/p>\n

There was a gulf in level of skill, and Dann said Ursu believed he could have stopped his opponent within the next couple of rounds.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIf Constantin wanted to, he could have gone out there and jabbed the guy\u2019s head off for 12 boring rounds and not got punched once.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had reach, he had speed, he had power, he has the distance, timing, and his defense was on point. He proved that in the first three rounds, he couldn\u2019t miss the jab.<\/p>\n

\u201cConstantin was hitting him with so many good shots, Constantin was telling him to his face, \u2018You are sh*t. You are slow.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Constantin Ursu and Ben Vaughan(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he was so confident that he was then playing with him. But then when you become confident, then you look a little bit arrogant, and then that\u2019s what brings on attacks and shots land.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t have respect for them, they\u2019re going to land something. So that\u2019s a lesson that he\u2019s learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s 26, this was his 16th fight, 16th win, and he isn\u2019t the world champion but he is in the process of being an incredible fighter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s these lessons that need to be learned which will shape him and only make him better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dann added: \u201cIf we\u2019re being honest there were glimpses in this fight which showed Constantin\u2019s exciting nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were moments where he was kissing the glove, and punching him and he was talking so much to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hit him with a four-piece combination, then shouted to him, and then came back out and hit him again.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of his character came out last night \u2013 he rose to the occasion, got an eighth-round stoppage against a man who has never lost apart from a split decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think that Constantin, just needed to be a little bit more disciplined on the jab and a little bit better with his rear hand defence. Other than that, I think it was a flawless performance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Constantin Ursu was over the moon after his chat with former undisputed world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 16:49,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-755955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}