Johnathon Banks is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held the IBO cruiserweight title from 2008 to 2009 and challenged once for the IBF cruiserweight title in 2009. He currently works as a boxing trainer, most notably for former

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

champion

Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

, and was himself trained by the late

Emanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. Known as "the godfather of Detroit boxing," Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his career, mos ...

. He is currently coaching

Gennady Golovkin Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin (; also spelled Gennady; born 8 April 1982), often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time former u ...

as well as Badou Jack.

Amateur career

Prior to turning professional, Banks enjoyed a successful

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

career that saw him become a three-time National Amateur Champion at 178 lbs.

Professional career

He fought out of the

Kronk Gym Kronk Gym is a boxing gym located in Detroit, once led by trainer Emanuel Steward. It was originally run out of the basement of the oldest recreation center of the City of Detroit. The gym became a household name in the sport of boxing and its go ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. Banks became the NABO Cruiserweight Champion, knocking out

Eliseo Castillo Eliseo Castillo (born April 29, 1975) is a Cuban former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2009, holding the NABO cruiserweight title in 2006. He is the younger brother of Heavyweight boxer Elieser Castillo. Amateur career From the ...

in the fourth round. After victories over Derrick Brown (13-3-3) and

Imamu Mayfield Imamu Amiri Mayfield (born April 19, 1972) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2008, and 2016 to 2017. Career Mayfield turned pro in 1994 and was a popular local fighter known for being on boxing cards in various New Jers ...

(25-8-2) Banks lined himself up for a title clash for the IBO Cruiserweight title.

IBO Cruiserweight Championship

On July 12 Banks fought Vincenzo Rossitto for the vacant IBO Cruiserweight Championship, Johnathon won by a majority decision.

IBF Cruiserweight Championship

He then fought

Tomasz Adamek Tomasz "Tomek" Adamek (; born 1 December 1976) is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2018. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light heavyweight title from 2005 to 2007, and the IBF a ...

for the IBF Cruiserweight Championship title on February 27 in Newark, NJ at the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multipurpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, United States. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), the New York Sirens of the Pro ...

. Banks was unsuccessful and was knocked out in the eighth round.

WBC Heavyweight Semi-Final Eliminator

Banks was set to fight undefeated prospect Seth Mitchell on November 17, 2012 in Atlantic City. He defeated Seth Mitchell by a second-round knockout. In a 2013 rematch, however, Banks dropped a unanimous decision to Mitchell.

Work as a trainer

After the death of

Emmanuel Steward Emanuel "Manny" Steward (July 7, 1944 – October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. Known as "the godfather of Detroit boxing," Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his career, most ...

, Banks assumed the role of head trainer of world heavyweight champion

. In July 2015 he replaced Chris Okoh as

Dillian Whyte Dillian Whyte (; born 11 April 1988) is a Jamaican-British professional boxer who has formerly competed as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim heavyweight title twice between 2019 and 2022. A ...

's trainer after the latter got injured. As of May 4 of 2019,

introduced Banks as his new head coach.Wladimir Klitschko's trainer will be in Dillian Whyte's corner this weekend
''

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

''.

Professional boxing record

References

https://anchor.fm/vkopod/episodes/Send-In-The-Clowns-e12ivdb

External links

*
Johnathon Banks' Official Website

The Official Website of the Kronk Gym
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Johnathan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people African-American boxers Sportspeople from Southfield, Michigan Boxers from Michigan Heavyweight boxers Cruiserweight boxers American male boxers American boxing trainers 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen