Chris Sarro of Ellsworth has earned world rankings in two weight classes while competing for the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship promotion. Chris Sarro was struggling with the monotony of training one day not long ago, so he said a little prayer.
A few hours later, his prayer was answered as the 32-year-old Ellsworth man became ranked among the world’s top five bare-knuckle fighters in two weight classes.
Sarro, who is 3-0 in his latest combat sports endeavor and 2-0 with the top-tier Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship franchise, was rated fourth as a light heavyweight and fifth among heavyweights in the annual Police Gazette Boxing Corp. rankings.
The rankings take into consideration competitors from seven bare-knuckle fighting franchises around the world.
“I was having a rough go with this whole thing so I said a simple prayer, “Lord, help me,’” said Sarro, the only fighter ranked in two different weight classes. “I don’t use that prayer often, but it wasn’t a few hours later when I got a message from the Bare Knuckle Hall of Fame leaking me the rankings a couple of days early.
“It was one of the best days of my life.”
The former Northern New England Golden Gloves boxing champion has scored all three of his professional victories by first-round knockout, including decisive BKFC wins over John McAllister in 1 minute, 32 seconds last November and Billy Martin in 1:50 on July 24 in Oxford, Mississippi.
“I know I’ve only fought twice for this promotion so what are the odds of me being ranked?” he said. “They told me they factor in a number of things but the fact I finished both of my opponents in under two minutes knocked us up there in front of [No. 6 heavyweight] Gabriel Gonzaga, who I’ve been watching all my life, must have helped.”
Sarro is now busy training at MXA Fitness in Ellsworth for his next fight, a heavyweight test Nov. 13 in Florida as part of BKFC 14.
His opponent has not yet been announced, but being the lone bare-knuckle fighter ranked in two different weight divisions has reinvigorated his spirits.
“I’ve worked my whole life for something like this and it’s changed everything,” Sarro said. “I went back to training and now I’m training like No. 4 in the world, I never get tired. It’s weird how the human mind works.”