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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 secures 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 ten-round UD in Riga on 26 September 2020.

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
29	Loss	20–8–1	Imam Khataev	TKO	6 (10), 1:34	12 May 2024	RAC Arena, Perth, Australia
28	Win	20–7–1	Tomas Bezvoda	UD	6	3 Dec 2023	Olympic Sports Center, Riga, Latvia
27	Loss	19–7–1	Oleksandr Gvozdyk	TKO	6 (10), 1:06	6 Apr 2023	Estadio Akron, Zapopan, Mexico
26	Win	19–6–1	Hrvoje Sep	UD	8	1 Apr 2022	Palau Olímpic Vall d'Hebron Barcelona, Spain
25	Loss	18–6–1	Joshua Buatsi	KO	11 (12), 2:08	14 Aug 2021	Matchroom Fight Camp, Brentwood, England	For WBA International light-heavyweight title
24	Win	18–5–1	Serge Michel	TKO	10 (10), 2:50	2 Dec 2020	Production Park Studios, South Kirkby, England	Retained WBO European light-heavyweight title; The Golden Contract: light-heavyweight – final
23	Win	17–5–1	Hosea Burton	UD	10	26 Sep 2020	Studio 69, Riga, Latvia	Retained WBO European light-heavyweight title; The Golden Contract: light-heavyweight – semi-final
22	Win	16–5–1	Steven Ward	TKO	1 (10), 2:21	14 Dec 2019	Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, England	Won WBO European light-heavyweight title; The Golden Contract: light-heavyweight – quarter-final
21	Win	15–5–1	Sergei Ekimov	UD	12	12 Oct 2019	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia	Won vacant EBP light-heavyweight title
20	Win	14–5–1	Gasan Gasanov	TKO	6 (8), 0:56	15 Jun 2019	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
19	Win	13–5–1	Patrick Mendy	MD	8	23 Mar 2019	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
18	Win	12–5–1	Zura Mekereshvili	UD	6	6 Oct 2018	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
17	Loss	11–5–1	Thabiso Mchunu	TKO	6 (10), 0:23	23 Jun 2018	Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, South Africa
16	Win	11–4–1	Alejandro Emilio Valori	KO	1 (8), 2:41	17 Mar 2018	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
15	Loss	10–4–1	Micki Nielsen	SD	8	27 Jan 2018	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
14	Win	10–3–1	César Córdoba	TKO	1 (6), 1:47	12 Nov 2016	Bilbao Exhibition Centre, Barakaldo, Spain
13	Win	9–3–1	Reinis Porozovs	UD	8	31 Jul 2016	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
12	Win	8–3–1	Giorgi Tevdorashvili	UD	8	14 May 2016	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
11	Win	7–3–1	Jarek Prusak	KO	2 (8), 0:34	21 Feb 2016	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
10	Win	6–3–1	Reinis Porozovs	UD	6	5 Dec 2015	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
9	Win	5–3–1	Andrejs Pokumeiko	UD	6	10 Oct 2015	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
8	Loss	4–3–1	Kevin Buval	UD	6	22 May 2015	Gymnase Georges Racine, Clichy, France
7	Win	4–2–1	Lukas Ablozevicius	UD	4	28 Mar 2015	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
6	Win	3–2–1	Pascal Villeneuve	MD	6	31 Jan 2015	Hilton Lac Leamy, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
5	Win	3–2	Andrejs Pokumeiko	UD	4	6 Dec 2014	Arēna Rīga, Riga, Latvia
4	Loss	2–2	Andreas Evangelou	TKO	4 (6), 3:06	12 Jul 2014	York Hall, London, England
3	Win	2–1	Arturs Perihs	TKO	1 (4), 0:33	18 May 2014	Club Rigas Rings, Riga, Latvia
2	Loss	1–1	Abel Mikaelyan	TKO	3 (4), 2:30	23 Nov 2013	CU Arena, Hamburg, Germany
1	Win	1–0	Pavels Veselovs	KO	1 (4), 2:37	15 Aug 2013	Club Rigas Rings, Riga, Latvia

References

1. "Boxing record for Ričards Bolotņiks". BoxRec.
2. "Bokseris Bolotņiks pēc karjerā lielākās uzvaras saņem apsveikumu no Brieža". Latvijas Sabiedriskie mediji (in Latvian). 1 October 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
3. Donovan, Jake (27 January 2018). "Usyk-Briedis Undercard: Nielsen (Gift), Hrgrovic (KO) Score Wins". Fight Nights. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
4. Zifo, Mesuli (25 June 2018). "Mbenge conquers the world". Daily Dispatch. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
5. Iskenderov, Parviz (14 October 2019). "LNK Fight Night 13 results: Bolotniks decisions Ekimov". Fightmag. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
6. "Highly-ranked Bolotniks in Golden Contract" (Press release). MTK Global. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
7. Parkinson, Nick (12 December 2019). "What's the Golden Contract light-heavyweight tournament, and who's in it?". ESPN. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
8. Parkinson, Nick (14 December 2019). "Ricards Bolotniks knocks out Steven Ward in Golden Contract light heavyweight tournament". ESPN. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
9. Sukachev, Alexey (26 September 2020). "Ricards Bolotniks Beats Up, Decisions Hosea Burton Over Ten". Boxing Scene. Retrieved 7 November 2020.

External links

• Boxing record for Ričards Bolotņiks from BoxRec (registration required)

• Living people
• 1990 births
• Latvian male boxers
• Light-heavyweight boxers
• Cruiserweight boxers
• Boxers from Riga