While some are against statues for those still very much alive, Ken is not in the best of health these days and deserves to see himself immortalised in Edinburgh because he never fought there as a pro and is generally unappreciated and often unknown. (He once signed an autograph for someone who recognised him on a building site; “You must be one helluva f ucking joiner,” said a stunned workmate.) Buchanan turned pro with Eddie Thomas, a proud Welshman who refused to bow to swaggering London promoters, and mastered his trade on dinner shows at the National Sporting Club in Piccadilly where he never put a foot wrong on his way to the British lightweight title in February 1968 with an 11-round stoppage of the vastly experienced Maurice Cullen but slipped up in a shot at the European title in January 1970 over in Spain and dropped a 15-round decision to Miguel Velazquez that looked like sheer robbery from TV but seemed OK to British reporters at ringside.
It was Buchanan's first defeat in 34 fights but the young Scot bounced back with a solid 10-round decision in London over Frenchman Leonard Tavarez (who later severely winded Roberto Duran in Paris before he was stopped) and squeezed into the world rankings by outscoring rugged New Yorker Chris Fernandez in Nottingham in another 10-rounder. He then graced a big Wembley show and destroyed Londoner Brian Hudson in five rounds defence of his British title as it all came together at the age of 25 and in September 1970, he shook the boxing world with a 15-round decision over Panama's Ismael Laguna for the WBA lightweight title in the tropical heat of Puerto Rico, finishing much the stronger of the two men to make sure of the points.
It was a heady time for the new champion, who retained his belt twice and found himself topping bills in Madison Square Garden (one, over someone called Muhammad Ali), before suffering a long, hard night at the hands of a young Duran in the Garden in June 1972 and losing his title in murky circumstances, although Duran was streets ahead on the cards. He was bitter that Duran never granted him a rematch, claiming he had worked out a way to beat the Panamanian legend in their fight (and brilliant movement was the way to beat Duran, so he probably had) but he did get a shot at Guts Ishimatu for the WBC lightweight title in Japan in 1975 and was closely outpointed. He had been thumbed in the eye in the build-up to that fight by a 'planted' Japanese sparring partner.
Ken never got another shot at a world title, although he deserved one after he was robbed in a European title encounter with Derry's Charlie Nash in Denmark in 1979, and it was Nash who got a shot at WBC lightweight champion Jim Watt three months later in Glasgow and was destroyed in four rounds. Buchanan had previously beaten Watt over 15 rounds. Kenny stuck it out for a couple more years, clearly past his best, but he still won most of his fights until he eventually called it quits in 1981 with an outstanding record of 61-8 (27). Duran was the only man to stop him.
