Chisora said the current lists are filled with names that don’t match the reality of who people are actually watching and paying for.
His dismissal of the current ranking systems highlights a growing gulf between the sport’s governing bodies and its commercial reality.
“I looked at the rankings of Oleksandr Usyk, Fabio Wardley, and then it was a bunch of guys I’d never heard of before,” Chisora told Fight Hub TV. “I wasn’t even there. Even Anthony wasn’t there. It’s kind of sad.”
Chisora’s logic is simple: if you’re not selling tickets or generating pay-per-view buys, does your ranking even matter? For him, the heavyweight division is anchored by a few “bankable” names who have proven their worth at the gate.
That frustration wasn’t so much about his own position as about what the rankings represented. Chisora rejects the idea that sanctioning bodies can define who the best heavyweights are, instead pointing to a small group of established names.
“I’m not going to need credit from them,” he said. “Get credit from the fans. Just credit from someone who has a paper to just decide who’s a better fighter? No. We know who’s doing better, me, Anthony, Tyson Fury, you understand? Oleksandr Usyk. That’s it.”
The point makes sense because it reflects how the department actually functions. Big fights are still built around household names, while many contenders struggle to generate attention outside of hardcore circles.
“We’re doing better numbers-wise, gate-wise,” Chisora said. “So we’re good.”
If the sport shifts completely to popularity, it risks becoming “prizes” without the “sport”. When only a handful of fighters are “bankable,” promoters fear losing. This leads to the “soft touch” matches, popular stars fighting against opponents to protect their market value.
It hurts the sport because it stunts the development of new stars. Fans eventually get tired of paying PPV prices for predictable outcomes.
If the rankings don’t matter, a talented but “boring” or “unpopular” fighter from an emerging market like Agit Kabayel may never get the chance to prove they are the best. Without a clear path to the top based on victories, boxing loses its integrity as a sport.
