Latvian lightweight Rikards Bolotniks says he is ready to take on the speedy Russian Imam Khataev in a match where his experience will prevail.
Bolotniks (20-7-1, 8 KOs) will face 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Khataev (6-0, 6 KOs) on the undercard of the Vasyl Lomachenko-George Kamboso Jr. main event in Perth. , Australia on Sunday (Saturday in the US). The Bolotniks come into the match as an obvious gatekeeper who is going to throw Khataev into the challenger.
“It’s my game, not his,” Bolotnik told BoxingScene. “This is professional boxing, it’s very different from amateur boxing. I watch him in the amateurs and, seriously, I like his boxing. He’s tough, he’s strong, with a big punch. I saw him knock out some guys in amateur boxing.
“They’ve been trying to get me to fight this guy for a long time. They sent me proposals to fight him in many places. He has a good team, good coach, great managers, everything like that. He wakes up and only exercises. I wake up, I go to work, then I exercise, then I come home and sit with my son, then I exercise again. Now I have two jobs. It’s a fight where a big pro goes up against a guy who just has the will to win. If you want to defeat Bolotniks, you better act well. It’s never easy to beat me.”
Bolotnik is coming off a routine six-round win over little-known Tomas Bezvoda in his hometown of Riga, following a disappointing sixth-round stoppage to Oleksandr Gvozik last May.
“After Gvozdyk, something changed in my head,” said Bolotnik. “I gave everything in the Gvozdik training camp – everything. This was such a strong camp, I felt great going into this fight. But then they caught me. I said before the fight that if I lose and look bad, I will stop. But he just caught me. It wasn’t my fault – it was hard to get any strength into the fight because my camp was constantly moving, from 10 weeks to 12 weeks, then 12 to 15 weeks. I trained a bit too much before the fight, I didn’t have much strength left for the fight in Mexico, but the fitness was really good because I trained a lot. It was s*** because I started this fight really well and then I stopped.
“Then I had this fight in Latvia, which was s***, to come back from a loss. After that, I didn’t want to box anywhere, but then I started thinking: “I’m in good shape, I still train every day.” Why not?’ I’m going to Australia for the first time and I’m getting good money and there’s no pressure on me. Nobody’s telling me I have to beat this guy because he’s good and he’s an Olympian. After all, it’s my job. I just have to go, do my job, get the money and bring it to my wife.”
Khataev will be taking on his toughest assignment since signing pro terms in 2021 with Montreal-based Eye of the Mountain Management. With his 100 percent knockout ratio against unknown opposition, he has been compared to Arthur Beterbiev.
“This is professional boxing,” Bolotnik said. “I think he’s only four or five rounds in yet. Yes, he’s a good amateur boxer and if we fight amateurs, yes, he’s good at it. But that’s my game – I box a lot in 10 and 12 rounds. I know he doesn’t know I know how it feels after six rounds. He’s going to call the 8th round, he’s going to be like, ‘How come I’ve got 10 rounds left?’ Feels like after six.
“I’m probably going to beat him on points, I’ve got a lot more experience. I want to box this guy the whole 10 rounds because I have experience in the later rounds that he doesn’t have. I’ll be interested to see how he handles him.”
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