Ricards Bolotniks wants to bring competitive fights back to his native Riga, Latvia.
The Latvian light heavyweight, 20-7-1 (8 KOs), appeared from relative obscurity with wins over the UK’s Steven Ward and Hosea Burton in 2019 and 2020, following up with a knockout victory over the undefeated Serge Michel. Bolotniks was the underdog every time.
He eventually lost to Joshua Buatsi through an 11th-round stoppage in August 2022. He was due to face another Englishman in Craig Richards, but the fight fell through on fight-week due to Richards falling ill. Bolotniks instead boxed Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and was stopped in the sixth round on the Canelo-John Ryder in Mexico last May.
“We have had a lot of offers from England, Russia and a lot of other places,” Bolotniks said in an exclusive interview. “Right now, though, I want to fight in Latvia. I would like to make one or two fights at home for the local people. I missed out a little bit when there were some great fights happening in Riga, I would always have a fight in the UK or Spain.
The 33-year-old returned to his homeland for the first time in more than three years this past December with Latvian promoter LNK Boxing. He picked up a routine points victory over Czech journeyman Tomas Bezvoda.
“It was great to be home for the last fight,” Bolotniks added. “I felt a lot of love from the fans, it has been so long since I fought in Riga. We’ve had some great nights in Riga over the last few years, it would be a shame to see it stop. I know the Latvian people want some good fights here, I could feel when I was fighting, I felt a lot of love and support. They screamed all night, they always do.
“I will go back to the UK and fight in other countries but now I want to fight in Riga. The fans in Latvia want to see me fight at home and with some of the Latvian guys, a lot of us are around the same weight. LNK Boxing had a nice idea of who I can fight next, it is alright for me. It was an interesting proposition, but a lot still to sort out. Maybe in May we will have a good tournament.
“There are some good guys the weight below me with good records and good experience now. Maybe we can have some good all-Latvian fights. The fans always love it when we fight each other. Late last year we spoke about the idea, I spoke to my good friend Kristaps Bulmeistars about it too, and Ralfs Vilcans was also a name you know that was mentioned. Nothing is confirmed, it will be in the future, but I love the idea and it would be great for Latvian boxing.”
Despite Bolotniks’s Riga dream, he still has unfinished business in the UK.
“I still want to come back to England,” Bolotniks said, switching the conversation. “I still need some wins over the English guys! I want that rematch with Buatsi. I can’t leave that loss like that, I just don’t want to. If England did call with a good offer, I would think about it because I have unfinished business there. People from England are always texting me to come back, they liked me over there.
“I need some wins over there, it’s nothing personal to English people. We are all friends, it is only business. I love fighting in the UK, the people and the fans were good to me.”