Is ken Buchanan underrated?

Love Buchanan, terrific boxer, tough and no problem getting involved though he never stopped using his jab.

Duran is never going to have an easy night with him but except for an off night Roberto is going to win each and every fight they have.

Always going 15 rounds as the Scot was one tough and gritty fighter.

Manos de piedra is arguably the best lightweight of all time which considering the talent in the division illustrates how good he was.

 

He's the best jabber in the Lightweight division IMO, i haven't made a ranking but that should put him pretty high

from what i've seen, i think Ismael deserved the win back in San Juan 1970'

And no, he wouldn't beat Roberto Duran even if he had a trillion chances.

 

No he doesn't win a rematch with RD, but he's an hell of a fighter.
Just bad luck to run into a young Duran.

 

Ken has admitted he turned down a rematch offer to face Roberto in Panama.

The offer was $25K, which he took as an insult.

In their fight, Duran made $35K and Ken $125K, and Roberto was the No. 1 contender fighting a mandatory, so it seems this offer was more or less in line with the split champion and challenger should expect.

What Ken should have done was work with his manager and whatever promoter he could align with to make Roberto a big offer to come fight him in the UK, one too big to turn down.

But iirc, Buchanan said around this time he decided he didn’t need a manager and would admit that it was a mistake and he had no idea what he was doing — as you said, just waited for the phone to ring and either take or reject each offer. If he had gotten with a promoter and signed like a 4- or 5-fight deal, they probably would have put up the money to back a rematch offer that Duran would have wanted to take because it would have been big money for that time.

I wish they had fought again but don’t see the result being much different. Ken was a splendid fighter and a joy to watch, but he’s never going to keep an animal like Duran off him.

 

Ken could have been champion in any era (apparently Duran never fought anyone at lightweight) but he’s not beating Duran in a rematch

 

Ken is highly regarded by those in the boxing community but sadly not remembered by the general public.So unfair when lots of inferior fighters get greater recognition

 

I was going to say something brilliant but Noel857 said it first. ^^^

 

I’d say that’s just life.

There are great musicians who never had a No. 1 hit or No. 1 album who were far greater talents than, say Britney Spears, but she’s the one who was in the videos with the machine behind her and more of a public persona. (And some are quite happy with that, not wanting to deal with the fame and such.)

Hell, more people know who Jake Paul is than any 10 boxers you can name today.

Ken was, for sure, a boxer’s boxer, but he came along at a time when he didn’t fight any mega-fights that captured the public’s imagination. I imagine Joe Fan in the UK in particular had great appreciation for him in his day, but there were no great promotions around his fights in the UK afaik — I’m sure Ken vs Watts was a really good domestic affair but it didn’t have the flair of Eubank vs Benn or whatever a couple generations later.

More people in the general public know of and appreciate Mike Tyson than Larry Holmes, but part of that is Tyson was a more than a bit of a car wreck and people are always going to be drawn to a spectacle. Larry was a more dedicated and consistent fighter, was on top for longer, didn’t disgrace himself by getting put in prison for **** and didn’t lead a public ‘look at me’ life … but I suspect we’d rather live Larry’s life than Mike’s.

 

Ken Buchanan was certainly never unnderrated by Roberto Duran, who has always asserted that Ken was the very best opponent of his career. The British media stated in the mid 1980s that Buchanan was arguably the UK's very best of the postwar era. Guts Ishimatsu has conceded that Ken might have been the true winner of their Tokyo showdown for the WBC title. If Buchanan had regained that championship, it would've been him, not DeJesus, who Duran would've reunified against in a rematch showdown. This is the one scenarion where Ken gets his desperately coveted return match. Prior to 1979, Ishimatsu was the only glitch on his record after Duran.

 

Duran was still a raw and wild when he fought Buchanan. Roberto was ferocious, he hurt Ken over and over with that right hand. He was falling in though smothering himself to the follow up.
A little bit later in the 70s after working with Freddie Brown he became more polished and patient. On balance not right hand crazy. That is part of the reason he didnt knockout Ken. The other is Buchanan was uncommonly tough.

 

Yes I believe he is underrated

 

very good Post, it exemplifies the Reality of Media and Media Hype, which since Ali and especially since the 80s & 90s has often been ridiculous, now it is OBVIOUS B.S.

anyway Buchanan has benefitted from that, good fighter that he is though.

 

Not in here among your average to better posters.