A Boxing Memory: Sonny Banks

A Boxing Memory: Sonny Banks

Not many people know that it was Sonny Banks who was the first fighter to knock down Muhammad Ali as a professional. Even the pub quizzes I used to frequent back in the day used to name Henry Cooper as that fighter when the question was asked. Not many people will have even heard of Sonny Banks. Certainly not the quiz masters. It wasn’t even his proper name. Even fewer will know how his career, and indeed his life, tragically ended.

Lucien ‘Sonny’ Banks was born in Mississippi in 1940 and always had aspirations to make his mark in life. But he didn’t know how or where. Banks left school in 1958, still searching for what he needed. An interest in boxing was formed from watching it on TV. That initial interest made him walk into a boxing gym. Banks had finally found what he was looking for.

There was no amateur background when he turned professional in 1960. A four-round points decision over Ernie Berthet Jr that wasn’t particularly impressive or encouraging got his career up and running. Berthet only had five fights in his career, winning only on his debut, and finished his career with three straight defeats. Nothing about his debut win offered hope that Banks had much of a future in the sport. But Banks carried on, four more wins followed all by stoppage until his first setback against Joe Shelton who stopped him in three rounds, and when Banks was outpointed in his very next fight by Chuck Garrett, a pattern and a level seemed to have been found.

But Banks ploughed on, five wins all inside the distance and each fight was held at the Graystone Ballroom in Detriot earned Banks a fight with a young rising and extremely vocal unbeaten heavyweight contender. Muhammad Ali, despite his words to the contrary, wasn’t yet the greatest in 1962 when he met Banks. He wasn’t even called Muhammad Ali when the two heavyweights clashed in Madison Square Garden. Ali was still Cassius Clay when both he and Banks accepted a late call to save the show when a planned fight between Eddie Machen and Cleveland Williams fell by the wayside when Machen pulled out injured. Ali was unbeaten in ten fights and was very much a fighter on the rise, Banks then 10-2 in his career was unknown and still very much on the raw side but was starting to develop a bit of a reputation as a puncher. Albeit against extremely limited opposition.

Banks found success in the opening round with left hooks, and when another dropped Ali in the opening round, a seismic upset looked on the cards. But Ali despite being hurt recovered quickly and found his range in the 2nd round dropping his opponent before stopping Banks in the 4th round. The greatest moment in the career of Sonny Banks had passed without reward. A moment in history was all it turned out to be. Banks needed something more.

Another inside-the-distance defeat this time to top-ten heavyweight contender Young Jack Johnson followed three months later. But Banks won eight out of his next nine fights, only Lee Batts beat him. Batts who edged past Banks by way of a split decision in 1963 was then stopped in two rounds in an immediate rematch the following year and the Mississippi native was approaching somewhere genuine prospect status himself, at least his managers were telling him that. But any chance of realising any potential he had, was ended in 1964. A terribly ill-judged match-up against the big-punching Cleveland Williams ended with Banks being stopped in six rounds. Banks was brave and stood up to some fearsome punches from the world-class Williams. Even the winner said it should have been stopped sooner than it was. Banks took the kind of beating his career or more importantly, his life didn’t need.

Banks was suspended for six months as a result of the damage he took at the hands of Williams. Ten months after the fight with Williams, there was one final fight. And one with tragic consequences. Banks travelled to Philadelphia in 1965 for a fight with the hometown fighter Leotis Martin. The same Martin who four years later would practically end the Sonny Liston story when he stopped him in nine rounds to end any lingering hopes of another shot at the world heavyweight title for the once feared and former heavyweight champion of the world.

Reports say Martin and Banks served up a heavyweight treat before the tragic end. A reported sparse crowd of just over 1,000 witnessed the last punch Banks would ever throw. The end came suddenly in round 9 with Banks still more than in the fight and throwing. Martin was celebrating his sudden knockout victory when he quickly realised it was something more serious. Banks died three days after the fight as a result of head injuries he sustained in the fight. He was just 24.

The knockdown Banks recorded against Ali which made his name did in some small way contribute to his death. It got Banks some level of fame, but earned him fights he shouldn’t have been anywhere near. The battering Banks received at the hands of Williams, a fighter who recorded sixty-two stoppages in eighty-two fights, should have been the end. In truth, it shouldn’t even have started. An abysmal piece of matchmaking. And an extremely dangerous one at that. That one fight cost Banks plenty. The fight with Martin was one fight too many. But in many ways, the damage was already done.