Ken Buchanan: Where Do You Rate Him at Lightweight?

[elmersalsa]

Where do you rank this excellent and extraordinary fighter from Edinburgh, Scotland? He is one my favorite great Roberto Duran's opponents.

A swift fighter with great lateral mobility and fast left jab, was Scotland, British Empire, European and World Lightweight Champion. A justifiable hall of fame career. To me, one of the top 20 greatest lightweights of all-time.

By the way, I would like to meet him someday. I bought his autobiography book 2 months ago. It is a great read so far. I like his tartan shorts. That is why he is called The Tartan Shorts Legend.

Was he Scotland's greatest fighter? Or the great flyweight champion Benny Lynch?

Was Buchanan the greatest lightweight from Great Britain or is it Freddie Welsh?

[Wee Tommy]

Bucannan is above Roberto Duran at lightweight but just below Oscar De La Hoya. Would have given him a good fight through.

[klompton]

He is wildly overrated for some bizarre reason. Ive never understood it. Hes a typical straight up and down jab/right european boxer. Nothing special. He was a good fighter but not great by any stretch.

[oogiebe]

He is wildly overrated for some bizarre reason. Ive never understood it. Hes a typical straight up and down jab/right european boxer. Nothing special. He was a good fighter but not great by any stretch.

Yup.

[DrDuke]

The bottom of the top 20 at best.

[Seamus]

Pretty good chin, excellent stamina, good handspeed, and good workrate. Not a big puncher though.

[Ambling Alp II]

He is wildly overrated for some bizarre reason. Ive never understood it. Hes a typical straight up and down jab/right european boxer. Nothing special. He was a good fighter but not great by any stretch.

Yup.

Yup 2x.
Good fighter, not great. One reason that he is overrated is that Duran fans need this to be a bigger win than it was.

[chrisjs1985]

I think he's a top 20 lightweight, probably somewhere closer to 20 than 10, as it is a very deep division. A top 10 British boxer, and probably Scotland's number one. I think he can often be underrated. He was a stylish boxer and he gets extra points for doing so much quality work on the road.

[Caractacus]

did he go on a publicty tour to promote his autobiography ?

[Caractacus]

[elmersalsa]

I think that Ken Buchanan was a special fighter. He was a fight short of greatness if Roberto Duran wouldn't been on the scene

To be champion of Scotland, British Empire, Europe and the whole world tells us something

[Jaywheel]

Bucannan is above Roberto Duran at lightweight but just below Oscar De La Hoya. Would have given him a good fight through.

[Ambling Alp II]

sometimes I think people say something without really thinking about it. There is no way that Buchanan is Top if you really think about the best lightweights in history.

Here are 20 that were clearly better:

Roberto Duran
Benny Leonard
Joe Gans
Henry Armstrong
Barney Ross
Pernell Whitaker
Freddie Welsh
Packey McFarland
Lou Ambers
Ike Williams
Carlos Ortiz
Joe Brown
Sammy Angott
Sammy Mandell
Tony Canzoneri
Beau Jack
Bob Montgmery
Alexis Arguello
Ad Wolgast
Julio Cesar Chavez

There are several others. Putting Buchanan in the top 30 is pushing it.

[elmersalsa]

sometimes I think people say something without really thinking about it. There is no way that Buchanan is Top if you really think about the best lightweights in history.

Here are 20 that were clearly better:

Roberto Duran
Benny Leonard
Joe Gans
Henry Armstrong
Barney Ross
Pernell Whitaker
Freddie Welsh
Packey McFarland
Lou Ambers
Ike Williams
Carlos Ortiz
Joe Brown
Sammy Angott
Sammy Mandell
Tony Canzoneri
Beau Jack
Bob Montgmery
Alexis Arguello
Ad Wolgast
Julio Cesar Chavez

There are several others. Putting Buchanan in the top 30 is pushing it.

Some great names but, I think that Ken Buchanan was better than the greats Alexis Arguello, Barney Ross and Julio Cesar Chavez at Lightweight class.

You forgot great lightweights like Ismael Laguna, Jimmy Carter, Paddy DeMarco, Shane Mosley and Esteban De Jesus. They were true true lightweights.

[Ambling Alp II]

Ross had almost 50 fights at lightweight including some big wins. He certainly counts. Chavez and Arguello fought at several different weights; so no they didn't have a lot of fights at lightweight; though each would have beaten Buchanan at lightweight. De La hoya and Hector Camacho as well.

Moseley was certainly better. Buchanan was about even with Laguna and DeJesus.

Plenty of others that were better than Buchanan; Battling Nelson, Frank Erne, Kid Lavigne, Dave Holly, Jack Blackburn. You could argue that Al Singer were better.

[oogiebe]

Ross had almost 50 fights at lightweight including some big wins. He certainly counts. Chavez and Arguello fought at several different weights; so no they didn't have a lot of fights at lightweight; though each would have beaten Buchanan at lightweight. De La hoya and Hector Camacho as well.

Moseley was certainly better. Buchanan was about even with Laguna and DeJesus.

Plenty of others that were better than Buchanan; Battling Nelson, Frank Erne, Kid Lavigne, Dave Holly, Jack Blackburn. You could argue that Al Singer were better.

Yeah, I just don't rate Kenny as an all time great top 30 even.

[Onetimeonly]

Kenny would have been stopped by the Mancini that took on Alexis.

[Onetimeonly]

Castillo was greater

[elmersalsa]

I rate Buchanan at Lightweight in the top 20. I think I made a list of the best Lightweight boxers ever years ago. I would appreciate if someone could find that thread.

My top 20 all-time Lightweight boxers as objective as possible:

1. Roberto Duran
2. Joe Gans
3. Benny Leonard
4. Pernell Whitaker
5. Ike Williams
6. Carlos Ortiz
7. Joe Brown
8. Tony Canzoneri
9. Beau Jack
10. Henry Armstrong
11. Shane Mosley
12. Lou Ambers
13. Sammy Angott
14. Bob Montgomery
15. Jimmy Carter
16. Ismael Laguna
17. Battling Nelson
18. Ken Buchanan
19. Freddie Welsh
20. Esteban De Jesus

Honorary mention:
Lew Jenkins
Edwin "Chapo" Rosario
Sammy Mandell
Ad Wolgast
Jack Blackburn
Kid Lavigne
Paddy DeMarco

Buchanan at pro level won every championship at any level of competition, whereas was Country, British Empire, Continental and World Championships at Lightweight. That counts for something.

His style could hang against any Lightweight that ever lived. And he proved it. He was a fantastic boxer with a fast left jab. He had that typical British boxing style in an era where great boxers from Great Britain came along like Howard Winstone, Alan Rudkin, and Walter McGowan. Of that era, he was not only the best Lightweight, but the best fighter out of Great Britain pound per pound of that era. Just look at his accomplishments.

[Onetimeonly]

Elmo, your lists suck and nothing could be less objective.

[elmersalsa]

Elmo, your lists suck and nothing could be less objective.

I think that is a great list by careful consideration and objectivity.

[DrDuke]

Arguello and Mancini definitely gotta be higher than Kenny.

[Ambling Alp II]

Barney Ross should be in the top 5. Somehow elmer has it in his head that he was not a lightweight. Beat Canzoneri twice who he has in the top 10. Also beat Billy Petrolle. He doesn't even rank Ross at all.

As for Buchanan - Winning Country, British Empire, Continental titles don't mean anything at all when rating him against great fighters.

Old timers like Lavigne, Blackburn, Holly, Wolgast, Petrolle, Mandell and Welsh were clearly better and he had him higher than all of them.

[elmersalsa]

Barney Ross should be in the top 5. Somehow elmer has it in his head that he was not a lightweight. Beat Canzoneri twice who he has in the top 10. Also beat Billy Petrolle. He doesn't even rank Ross at all.

As for Buchanan - Winning Country, British Empire, Continental titles don't mean anything at all when rating him against great fighters.

Old timers like Lavigne, Blackburn, Holly, Wolgast, Petrolle, Mandell and Welsh were clearly better and he had him higher than all of them.

Ken Buchanan in my view was a fantastic boxer somehow forgotten in British and European circles. We kind of forgot how good and consistent he was before fighting the great Roberto Duran.

When you are the best in your weight class at all levels of pro competition speaks volumes. Especially, in those days when he was fighting.

Kid Lavigne, Jack Blackburn, Ad Wolgast and the others mentioned above do not carry much weight to be considered all-time great lightweights.

Ken Buchanan was a fantastic fighter.

[klompton]

That consistency you mentioned wasborn on the backs of clubfighters and faded world class fighters. The only truly worldclass fighter he beat who was arguably still in his prime was Laguna and he was clearly fading at the time. Pretending Buchanan was beating all of these killers to rack up some great record as an ATG LW is pure fantasy.