Ričards Bolotņiks (born 24 March 1990) is a Latvian professional boxer who held the WBO European light-heavyweight title from 2019 to 2022.
Professional career Bolotņiks played ice hockey when he was younger, but decided to try boxing since he had always wanted to fight. He made his professional debut on 15 August 2013, defeating Pavels Veselovs by first-round knockout (KO) in Riga. In his next seven bouts he won only three times, suffering losses in Germany, England and France. After that he managed a string of six victories from 2015 to 2016, during which he moved up a weight class to cruiserweight. Sitting on a 10–3–1 record, he faced Micki Nielsen in Riga on 27 January 2018, losing by controversial split decision (SD) to end his streak. Five months later he lost again to Thabiso Mchunu in South Africa, and decided to move back down to light-heavyweight.
On 12 October 2019, Bolotņiks defeated Sergei Ekimov (18–0, 9 KO) by unanimous decision (UD) in Riga for the vacant EBP light-heavyweight title, the first of his career. Later that month, he was announced as a participant in The Golden Contract light-heavyweight tournament that secured the winner a two-year, five-fight contract with MTK Global. In the quarter-finals, he matched up against undefeated Belfast native Steven Ward (12–0, 4 KO) at the Brentwood Centre in England on 14 December with his WBO European light-heavyweight title also on the line. Bolotņiks won the fight by first-round technical knockout (TKO) in an upset, flooring the champion three times en route to a new belt and a £5,000 knockout bonus. He retained his title in the semi-finals against Hosea Burton by 10-round UD in Riga on 26 September 2020. Bolotņiks retained the title again, and won the final, by stopping Serge Michel in the 10th round at Production Park Studios in South Kirkby on 2 December 2020.
He faced Joshua Buatsi for the vacant WBA International light-heavyweight title at Matchroom Fight Camp in Brentwood on 14 August 2021, losing by knockout in the 11th round.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes29LossImam KhataevTKO6 (10), 12 May 202428Win20–7–1Tomas BezvodaUD63 Dec 202327Loss19–7–1Oleksandr GvozdykTKO6 (10), 6 Apr 202326Win19–6–1Hrvoje SepUD81 Apr 202225Loss18–6–1Joshua BuatsiKO11 (12), 14 Aug 202124Win18–5–1Serge MichelTKO10 (10), 2 Dec 202023Win17–5–1Hosea BurtonUD1026 Sep 202022Win16–5–1Steven WardTKO1 (10), 14 Dec 201921Win15–5–1Sergei EkimovUD1212 Oct 201920Win14–5–1Gasan GasanovTKO6 (8), 15 Jun 201919Win13–5–1Patrick MendyMD823 Mar 201918Win12–5–1Zura MekereshviliUD66 Oct 201817Loss11–5–1Thabiso MchunuTKO6 (10), 23 Jun 201816Win11–4–1Alejandro Emilio ValoriKO1 (8), 17 Mar 201815Loss10–4–1Micki Nielsen827 Jan 201814Win10–3–1César CórdobaTKO1 (6), 12 Nov 201613Win9–3–1Reinis PorozovsUD831 Jul 201612Win8–3–1Giorgi TevdorashviliUD814 May 201611Win7–3–1Jarek PrusakKO2 (8), 21 Feb 201610Win6–3–1Reinis PorozovsUD65 Dec 20159Win5–3–1Andrejs PokumeikoUD610 Oct 20158Loss4–3–1Kevin BuvalUD622 May 20157Win4–2–1Lukas AblozeviciusUD428 Mar 20156Draw3–2–1Pascal Villeneuve631 Jan 20155Win3–2Andrejs Pokumeiko46 Dec 20144Loss2–2Andreas EvangelouTKO4 (6), 12 Jul 20143Win2–1Arturs PerihsTKO1 (4), 18 May 20142Loss1–1Abel Mikaelyan3 (4), 23 Nov 20131Win1–0Pavels Veselovs1 (4), 15 Aug 2013
References
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