The unexpected and bright personality of BAZARA 0 Fight Club who has taken the spotlight for combat sports fans in both Latvia and Lithuania: Francis Rozentāls!
Having trained with Jānis Muižnieks and other Latvian boxing legends, and raised in a family of professional athletes, Francis is looking to prove himself to an even bigger audience. Today we talked about his boxing history, why he climbed into the cage after Dirkstys’ win, and ultimately answered the question of, “Who the f**k is this guy?”
Of course, the first and most important question: did you come to BAZARA 0 Fight Club planning to challenge someone?
No. I went inside, saw the cage and went crazy. I just couldn’t stand still. I didn’t even know Dirkstys that well. I went up to Daņiks, told him I was going in. I wouldn’t do it without permission. He hopped in with me.
I was ready right away, on the spot. I didn’t push him around, or anything—either we fight now or you offer me a time and date. Dirkstys was scared. He was beating up some poor loser. That’s why I told him to come and face a real fighter who can also hit him. Test yourself, prove yourself!
His face isn’t all messed up because he hasn’t fought a worthy opponent. I have, and my face isn’t messed up because they just can’t hit me. I’m serious about this s**t. I don’t think he could handle my training regimen, my everyday life.
Because you were born to be an athlete?
Yeah, my entire family are all athletes. I couldn’t not be one. There was no other option. My father was a bobsledder, he competed in the Olympics twice, in 1998 and 2002. My mother was a basketball player for “TTT Riga”, she still plays. Of course, the most important element here is my grandfather, who was a boxer; he was a boxing fanatic. He boxed himself until he was 66. Both uncles were boxers, too, Dominiks and Rodžers. Rodžers had had about 40 fights. He only gave up fighting because of a head injury.
And your sister, Beatrise Rozentāle, Latvia’s new women’s boxer!
My sister is a beast. She started out with basketball. I took her to one boxing practice and she fell in love with it, said she wanted to switch. Our whole family was against it because she’s beautiful and we didn’t want her to ruin her face. But she’s so good that she’s hard to hit—you can’t get to her face at all. She has a better record in amateur boxing than me. Third in the world in her group.
What was the beginning? The first training you had and the moment you realized you wanted to take up boxing?
Had my first taste of it when I was just a kid. There were family get-togethers, birthdays, and my uncle would put on boxing gloves for me and my cousin. And everyone is looking at you, you know? Uncles, grandfather, parents… as a little guy, you really want to prove yourself. I think that’s what put that animal in me. I remember being young, when my grandfather and I used to watch boxing. He said he hoped to see me on TV one day. That came true. And that’s why I do it—I want to give him my boxing belt.
You have been trained by some of Latvia’s best. Tell us about your coaches!
Initially, I didn’t train that seriously because I was still a baby—very scrawny and tiny. I couldn’t even find opponents. At first I went to Normunds Vārenbergs, who was my first coach; he trained Ralfs Vilcāns. But because I couldn’t even spar, I slowly lost the fire for it.
I went into swimming. Did that for several years. I took part in competitions, but it was definitely not my calling. Mom forced me to do it because of my health. Maybe that’s why my shoulders are so broad… Damn, gotta thank mom!
My cousin started training in Jugla, with Viktors Bite. So my uncle called me, said I should come along. I stayed there for a long time. You could say that I’ve been training properly, seriously, since I was 15.
Then the competitions started. I was immediately put up against a Latvian champion, who at that time had about 30-40 fights under his belt. My first fight. I’d only been training for a few months! I didn’t understand what was going on at all—I was brought to the Riga Sports Manege, and then I had to fight. I lost. My second fight was against him again. I fought better, but I still lost. In the third fight I scored a standing knockout.
Parallel to that, I started training with the former coach of the Latvian national team, Jānis Muižnieks. The OGs of boxing will know who he is. When I was 16, I met coach Dainis Daņiļevičs. We arranged a sparring match with Mārcis Grundulis, the best young boxer in Latvia at that time. Even now, he has a very good record.
I showed my skills off well, and Dainis liked me. He offered me to train with them, in Ķekava, because we’d have a good team: me, Mārcis Grundulis and Emīls Špīss. I didn’t want to leave Coach Bite, but I needed a bigger challenge and new sparring partners, because I was starting to knock everyone out. I stayed part-time with Coach Muižnieks, though.
With Daņiļevičs, I gained both head injuries and boxing skills for life. My team and I, we wanted to practically kill each other every sparring match. [laughs] We were friends, but when we got in the ring, we went to war. Every time. We fought like the winner got ten grand.
How did your professional boxing career start?
My life changed completely. Vadims Milovs and Jevgeņijs Saproņenko, the organizers and bosses of “LNK Boxing”, came to watch me spar. They told me that they wanted me on the next fight show to make my professional debut.
I had just started to grow armpit hair and they put me against a guy from Georgia with 20-30 fights. That was the fight where I came out in my legendary leopard suit, already making an image for myself. My opponent had more professional fights than I had amateur ones. I barely pulled that off, it was very difficult, but I won—and that was my priority at the time. I made the first money of my life.
We accumulated professional victories. I fought in “Arēna Rīga”, I started to gain recognition. During COVID-19, I changed coaches. I felt I needed a change. I started training with Sandis Kleins, who used to train Mairis Briedis. That there was a completely different approach, a whole different workload.
We had the idea to try Olympic boxing. We realized that we could try to make it to the 2024 Olympics. But in 2022, before the 42nd International Tammer Tournament in Finland, I injured my arm. In that tournament, I fought against the Brazilian champion, Ramon Sousa. I scored a knockout, but he won in the end. To be honest, I would have won, even with the injury. Amateur refereeing is simply a complete mess; that’s why they want to take it out of the Olympics.
Have you managed to recover? Injuries tend to linger for an active athlete.
At first I thought it was nothing crazy, that my arm just hurt. And then it wouldn’t go away. I had procedures done, which didn’t work, and I was offered fights, which I had to decline. The doctors couldn’t tell me much either. I was miserable. In the end, it turned out that I had triceps tendonitis and tennis elbow.
The injury caused such a long break that I became depressed. Because of my depression, I didn’t sleep enough, didn’t eat healthy. Of course, I still didn’t drink. I never drink. Maybe I’ll have some whiskey when I’m 50. [laughs]
I stopped working with Sandis Kleins and “LNK Boxing”. When I started to recover, I started training with Ivars Čākurs with the help of my father, because I really needed to regain my physical fitness. I was out of breath, I was weak. Čākurs used to coach the Latvian national bobsled team, so the training was very intense.
My sister started training with Dmitrijs Šiholajs, and soon I did too. We’re still working together now. He teaches me all the fine details, which is actually the most important thing. However, because I trained so hard, my elbow now needs surgery. It’s a minor one, but very important. We’ve already got a plan—rehabilitation, then straight back to training. And as soon as I’m healthy, I’ll have that fight with Dirkstys and knock him out.
What would have to happen for you to lose that fight?
If he pulls up to the fight with a gun and shoots me. [laughs] Anything can happen. Losing is always an option. But I will train so hard that it won’t have a chance of happening.
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