DERBY, England — Constantin Ursu finally got his rewards on Saturday night with his British welterweight title win at the Vailliant Live in Derby, England.
It hasn’t been easy for the Moldovan – who fights out of Plymouth – owing to him spending the entirety of his professional career on the small-hall circuit. It’s testing for an up-and-coming fighter to both sell tickets and make very little money.
Ursu was finally given his opportunity on a bigger stage on Saturday when he topped a Queensberry Promotions bill against Owen Cooper for the vacant British title. The little-known Ursu wasn’t fancied by many, but he dominated Cooper to win a unanimous decision and the famous Lonsdale belt. Despite spending much of his career fighting at London’s York Hall and the Brentwood Center in Essex, Ursu always knew that he would succeed.
“It feels the same for me,” Ursu told BoxingScene. “Nothing has changed for me. It’s a big show, I know who I am, I know where I go, so in the end it will go the same way.”
The newly crowned British champion’s promoter Johnny Clark of Top Tier Promotions confirmed to BoxingScene that part of Ursu’s contract to fight Cooper was a
three-fight deal should he win. Ursu, who impressed many onlookers with his performance, will fight regularly on a bigger platform
“Money for me doesn’t matter,” Ursu said. “For me it’s legacy, for me boxing is my life, so it’s everything I can put in. Boxing costs me money, lots of money, so now if I make more money it will be very easy for me to do what I need to do.”
Ursu will have increased financial security – a stark contrast from his time selling tickets on the small-hall circuit to pay for his opponent. That regardless is not the only obstacle he has had to face in his time building towards the British title. Hours have been spent on the road travelling for sparring and to test himself against some of the best.
“It’s very hard, really, it’s very hard,” he said. “Me and my coach [Ursu works under Brendan Jones and Marley Dann] go to London from Plymouth, a five-hour drive for sparring, sleep in the car, back home, training again, three times a week, sometimes we do it for many, many years. It’s lots of money, travelling, going to hotels. Sometimes we don’t have money for hotels. We’re happy with what we have, so we don’t need... We don’t expect many luxury things. We are boxers; we are fighters. We fight with life, we fight in the boxing ring, so it is what it is now.
“People don’t realise, but we enjoy this road. This is our journey, so we enjoy it. I can’t complain about nothing. For seven-and-a-half years, I love every day what I do. Even when I sleep in the car, pain in my back, I need to do sparring. Sometimes sparring is not very good because I sleep in the car. It’s good. It’s like, what a life.”
The British title is an achievement in its own right, but potentially is only the start for the 25-year-old Ursu.
“It’s a small beginning for my future,” he said. “I would love to defend. I heard if you defend [the British title] three times, you keep it forever. So it would be lovely if I would keep this forever, to live in my city in Plymouth. So it would be lovely to have a little history to put my mark in forever. But it depends on my coach, my manager. We are a team and we will stick together. So we’ll see.”
Ursu’s promoter and manager Clark offered more insight into what could be next. Ursu’s new promotional stablemate and former British welterweight champion Ekow Essuman was in attendance for his victory. Essuman also defeated Cooper back in 2024, when winning an entertaining affair by stoppage after being knocked down.
“We would love the Ekow Essuman fight next,” Clark said. “We dominated Cooper there compared to Ekow. Ekow did get him out of there, but that’s the fight I would definitely welcome next.”
