Ken Buchanan forced to sell all Championship Belts

Boxing legend Ken Buchanan forced to sell his championship belts

Published Date: 16 February 2009

BOXING legend Ken Buchanan has been forced to sell all the championship belts he won during his glittering career.

The Edinburgh-born 63-year-old – widely regarded as Britain's greatest boxer – has been living with friends in Leith after falling on hard times.

He has now taken the difficult decision to sell his full set of championship belts to scaffolding magnate Willie Garriock.
The former world, European and British lightweight champion's honours may now go on display at the National Museum of Scotland.
Buchanan has experienced several problems since retiring from the ring in 1982 but friends say he has recently been in better shape.

He has even returned to sparring with young hopefuls at Leith's Sparta Club, the club where he first made his name as a boxer.
One close friend said: "We know he's had his problems over the years, but in more recent times he has picked himself up.
"He's had a lot of bad things happen to him and even though he still takes a drink, he looks a lot better now, clean shaven and well presented."

The friend said he believed Buchanan simply felt he needed more cash to get by.

Mr Garriock, a former Scottish boxing champion, is understood to have been motivated to buy the belts by a desire to see them on public display.
The National Museum of Scotland said it was in talks with the businessman about including the belts in its sporting hall of fame.
Mr Garriock – who knows Buchanan from their days at the city's Sparta Boxing Club – declined to comment when contacted by the Evening News.

It was unclear today how much he has paid for the belts.
However, a Lonsdale Belt won by Leith featherweight Tancy Lee in 1919 was recently sold on eBay for a reported £16,000.

Buchanan's spoils include a Lonsdale belt won as British champion in 1968 and world title belts won in the early 1970s in Puerto Rico and the United States.

He is the only living British fighter to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Buchanan was also voted Greatest Ever British Boxer in a 1978 poll organised by the sport's British trade newspaper Boxing News.

A National Museum of Scotland spokesman said: "We are in the early stages of discussions with Mr Garriock about the possibility of his lending boxing memorabilia to the National Museum of Scotland."

Ken Buchanan could not be contacted for comment.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/-Boxing-legend-Ken-Buchanan.4983234.jp

Big shame he needs to do this....Wish him all the best :good

Also what the hell is he doing sparring young fighters!!! :scaredas:

 

Sad ending from a former respected champ.:-(

 

i think the sparring will be more of a duckin and diving session, and not trading blows, good inspiration for a young fighter to be in the ring with such a legend.

if boxing treated its legends like football does, he would'nt need to make heart wrenching decisions like that, man, those belts are what made him as a man

hope he gets on his feet at least from the sale of his treasured belts :good

 

he's not dead........he's struggling financially, who is'nt ?

 

And how much money did Audley get ................... the worlds upside down !

 

we will hear this story every couple of year until the end of time. most athletes dont look after there money properly once they retire.

 

27 years is a long time

 

I agree it seems very unfair,i hate to see a great old fighter end up having to do something like this whilst a clown like Audley(and he isnt the only one)lords it up with millions in the bank.

 

Poor management over the years.
It's a bloody crying shame.

 

Didn't Henry Cooper have to sell his Lonsdale Belts a while back?

It's sad all that. And it doesn't sound like they had particularly expensive tastes.......like Mr Eubank. But at the end of the day however skilled in the ring they are they are simply fighters, 99% of whom probably got into it as they weren't equipped to do much else.

Once it's over they seem to be just cut loose in a lot of cases, and that just doesn't seem right when considered how much they have given over the long hard years.

 

Uch yeah Ken was no saint , its harsh though.

I suppose on the bright side if they end up in the National Museum then at least they'll help educated future generations about him.

 

Time for a Boxing Benevolent Fund methinks.

Rugby League has been doing the same thing for a while, really works well.

 

cooper did all his crying as a lloyds invester .ken buchanan on the other hand never did earn the money his skills merited.he was and is a STAR

 

does anyone know how to get into contact with ken as i have been trying to find an adress for a letter for a wee while

if you do know pm me

 

totally agree