The Ken Buchanan appreciation thread

... McGrain's thread got me, an ex-thug from the streets and alleys of Boston, wearing a frickin' kilt in honor of Buchanan while I rewatch the films.

That first round with Duran is interesting. Watch it, it's on youtube. Duran nails him with a right and both Buchanan's gloves hit the canvas and it's scored a knockdown. But watch as Ken gets up and plays it off by looking at his gloves and then wiping them on his trunks as if its a slip. Nice move. Didn't work, but a nice move.

Seconds later, he cracks a rushing Duran with a left hook, and Duran bumbles into the ropes. That could have easily been ruled a knockdown too because but for the ropes, Duran would have gone down. Now, Buchanan comes forward because he sees that he got him good, but isn't sure because he tasted the kid's power, so he lays off. Great stuff.

Head-to-head, Buchanan is downright dangerous to any LW, even the best. I for one am not so sure that an older more seasoned Duran, say 1978 could have beaten Ken even though the 21 year old did. The younger version of Duran had too much energy for Buchanan and overwhelmed him. I am not so sure that Duran would have outboxed Ken, ever.

I would choose Buchanan over LW Armstrong however. It takes a damn good matador and an iron chin to deal with Armstrong; and Ken, who was never really stopped, had both. Duran was bigger than Henry and I'd give Duran the edge in strength and power as well. Armstrong's difficulty with Lou Ambers is suggestive. Lou almost overcame a couple of knockdowns in their first bout to take a decision and he beat him the second time although Armstrong's fouls helped. Lou was both skilled and aggressive. He was also tough. Kenny was at least as skilled and at least as tough as Lou, but he was also 3 inches taller than the 5'4 Ambers.

Kenny better wear an iron cup though, because Henry went south on Ambers at least 8 times in both bouts.

 

Probably the most skilled British fighter of all-time.

 

Ken Buchanan; could have been him up there with Hagler, Leonard and Hearns, if Duran hadnt cheated his way to Victory in their fight. Ken Buchanan a true great, Legend.

 

Who's this? Is that you Ken?

 

Ken on a night out, he seems like a good laugh...

[yt]JQ2Ze2Hbt8U [/yt]

 

Great post.

 

aah, old ken boy. My missus got me a signed copy of his book as a wee surprise for me, & ken was pure class with her, during the book signing he gave my missus a wee kiss on the cheek, & asked if Dunky(the name he was writing down) was her boyfriend, & when she said yes, he joked that he didnt want to bump into me after he stole a kiss!

My pals always joke that Ken Buchanan runs scared of me to this day

I still maintain that Duran got lucky against Kenboy, cos Duran was done, & thats why he punched Ken in the balls. He knew Buchanan had taken everything he could throw, & was still there. Duran was a spent force, & Ken would have finished him in the next round. Watch wht was happening before the fateful low blow. Ken was pummeling him.

 

I did a thread on the Buchanan V Duran fight in the Classic forum just the other day. I posted up all the vids of the whole fight. Great scrap.

This content is protected

 

Here here

 

To see him know he looks like a sweet old gramps but christ to go where he went and do what he did he must have been tough as hell. I agree with the post earlier that it was purely a youthful Durans energy , hunger and disregard for rules that got him through that night , I love Duran but Ken should've won it.

 

That sounds like the Laguna fight.

 

ken buchanan was so good his career has largely overshadowed a very good lightweight he suceeded as britains best and that was dave charnley "the dartford destroyer". charnley was a real tough bull of a southpaw lightweight who fought most of the worlds top contenders in the late fifties and early sixties,winning some,losing some but was a tough proposition for any of them.he took joe brown to a very close 15 round decision in the ring magazine's fight of the year in 1961 a fight many thought he won.he didn't mind fighting welterweights either,beating don jordan who in his next fight won the world title.in fact in his last fight he took on the great emile griffith managing to take him 9 rounds before being stopped.charnley has been largely forgotten,which really in some ways pays a great compliment to ken buchanan who's great exploits have eventually been recognised,although criminally they didn't appear to be at the the time.

 

great stuff in this thread, ken is without a doubt one of the finest boxers britain has ever produced and scotlands greatest boxer

 

I came across this thread on Google started by mcgrain in appreciation of King Ken Buchanan.
Like Mr Mcgrain I could never make up my mind who I thought was numero uno between buchanan and lynch and still can't...
What I'm sure of is that buchanan vs puduano was the greatest display of boxing I have ever seen.
Ohhh how I tried copying buchanan's jab when I boxed myself.
I liked watching joey giardello outskill the muscled banger rubin carter and also admired joey archer but king ken is number one in boxing skill for me even Randolph adolphus Turpin is still my favourite fighter
Cheers Mcgrain!!!