The 25-year-old welterweight, who didn't speak English when he moved from Chisinau to Plymouth in 2018, won by unanimous decision after a masterful performance at Vaillant Live Arena.

Ursu, Commonwealth champion, has been described as British boxing’s best-kept secret given his stealthy rise through the ranks on small hall shows. But after illuminating his first DAZN main event in such style, the secret is now out.

“I didn't know it would feel so great when I had my hand raised, but it did,” Ursu said.

“And I have one more secret that people don’t know. I boxed with a broken hand. I couldn’t throw it properly. In time it will be much better.”

He did not have it all his own way against the spirited Cooper (11-2, 4 KOs), who landed with a number of right hands of his own but was simply unable to deal with the rhythm and accuracy of the new champion.

Judge Marcus McDonnell scored Ursu a 116-112 winner while Kevin Parker and Bob Williams had it wider at 118-111.

Ursu, the betting favorite, made the faster start and got Cooper’s attention inside a minute when a hard left hand from his southpaw stance sent his opponent stumbling backwards.

And he followed it up with four more before the round was out as Cooper, backed by a noisy following from his hometown of Worcester, struggled to get to grips with the distance.

It was more of the same in the second, with Ursu controlling the range with a stiff jab and landing his back hand at will. Cooper, attempting to bounce in and out, was left feeding on scraps only.

With a few seconds left in the round, Cooper did finally land with a right hand that got Ursu’s attention, but it did not signal a turning tide once the third began. Ursu continued to completely dictate the exchanges with excellent accuracy and timing.

He started to change the angles through the fourth, firing vicious uppercuts with both hands into Cooper’s chin while steadily turning up the heat of his body attacks, too. Meanwhile, his neat footwork ensured very little was landing in return.

At the end of the fifth, another dominant round for Ursu, his longtime trainer Marlee Dean, who brought him over from Moldova, said: “You’re only just getting warmed up here.”

Cooper’s fans were doing their best to urge him on and, to his credit, he did not stop coming despite losing every round in the first half of the fight. But he started the seventh with renewed vigor and beat Ursu (15-0, 6 KOs) to the punch, much to the crowd’s delight. He was finally landing with lead right hands while a left uppercut also found the target.

Suddenly Ursu had slowed down and the control from the early rounds was slipping away. The eighth started well for Cooper, who found a home for two more right hands within 30 seconds of the restart. Ursu was not in visible trouble but was looking tired for the first time.

But back Ursu roared in the ninth, landing hard to head and body to signal the start of his second wind. He ended the round on top, too, and pointed to his opponent as the bell sounded as if to show the damage he had done.

Then, in the 10th, Cooper landed the best shot the fight when he slipped outside a cross before firing a counter right hand over the top which seemed to rock Ursu to his boots.

Despite his occasional success, Cooper was still almost certainly behind on the cards as the fight entered its penultimate round. Ursu punctuated the 11th with more eye-catching work and continued landing punches as the bell sounded.

The 12th was another blood-and-thunder round and they embraced as the bell sounded. There were no complaints from Cooper about the result, either.

In the chief support, undefeated southpaw Ben Fail (11-0, 6 KOs) secured a statement victory in his biggest test to date. After points wins over journeymen in his two outings in 2025, the junior middleweight took on the experienced two-time British title challenger Mason Cartwright (23-5-1, 9 KOs) in what was the first 10-rounder of his career.

He would not need the distance to do the business after stopping Cartwright after 1:46 of the seventh.