Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Banks

Boxing competition

Date

February 10, 1962

Venue

Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York

Tale of the tape

Boxer	Cassius Clay	Sonny Banks
Nickname	"The Louisville Lip"
Hometown	Louisville, Kentucky	Birmingham, Mississippi
Pre-fight record	10–0 (KO)	10–2 (KO)
Age	20 years	21 years, 7 months
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	194 lb (88 kg)	191 lb (87 kg)
Style	Orthodox	Orthodox
Recognition	1960 Olympic light heavyweight Gold Medalist

Result

Clay won by TKO in 4rd round (0:26)

Cassius Clay vs. Sonny Banks was a professional boxing match contested on February 10, 1962.^[1]

The fight

Clay won the fight through a technical knockout when the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round. The event is remembered for being the first professional boxing match in which Ali was officially knocked down in the ring by his boxing opponent.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^{[note 1]}

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:^[13]

Notes

^ Although it has gone down as a knockdown in the records, some commentators opine that Ali had slipped on water splashed in a corner during this fight.^[12]

References

^ "Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Banks". boxrec.com. BoxRec. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
^ "Muhammad Ali's ring record". ESPN. 19 November 2003. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
^ Thomas Hauser (1991). Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. Simon & Schuster. pp. 43–6.
^ Felix Dennis; Don Atyeo (2003). Muhammad Ali: The Glory Years. miramax books. p. 62.
^ David Remnick (1998). King of the World. Random House. pp. 121.
^ "Mississippi's Sonny Banks was the first pro boxer to knock down Muhammad Ali". Sun Herald. 7 July 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ "The Muhammad Ali I knew: A tribute by the late Bill Gallo". Daily News. 5 June 2016. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ "Clay Arrives In Town, Speaks Of Many Things". Sumter Daily Item. 5 February 1962. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ "Clay Predicts Early Knockout". Toledo Blade. 10 February 1962. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ "Cocky Clay finds Banks Tough Foe". The Spokesman Review. 12 February 1962. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
^ Ferdie Pacheco (2003). A View from the Corner. Birch Lane Press. pp. 61–4.
^ Stephen Brunt (2002). Facing Ali. The Lyons Press. p. 223.
^ "BoxRec - event".

Preceded by vs. Willi Besmanoff	Cassius Clay's bouts 10 February 1962	Succeeded by vs. Don Warner
Preceded by vs. Clay Thomas	Sonny Banks's bouts 10 February 1962	Succeeded by vs. Young Jack Johnson

Muhammad Ali

Fights

Media

Docu films and series	Whicker's World (1967 episode) a.k.a. Cassius Clay (1970) Facing Ali (2009) When Ali Came to Ireland (2012) The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) I Am Ali (2014) Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century (2019 episode) What's My Name: Muhammad Ali (2019) Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali (2021) Muhammad Ali (2021 series)