Steve Bunce insists all bets should be off when listing the runners and riders for Britain’s greatest ever fighter with Ken Buchanan the unopposed champion.
The BBC boxing pundit paid tribute to his pal who died at the weekend at the age of 77 by claiming the Edinburgh born Scot’s ring career is now immortalised in legend. As the passing of the former undisputed world lightweight champion was recognised by the great and good of the fight game, Bunce provided an insight into a talent who became unfashionable by the establishment for refusing to bend to their demands.
He said: “We need to drop the greatest Scottish boxer tag with Ken as there’s a really strong case to be made for him being the greatest ever British boxer. Let’s be honest, he was far better than just being one of Scotland’s finest, he was one of the finest in Britain and was arguably Europe’s finest. Let’s detail his career and the stuff he did.
“In 197O he sent his belt back as he couldn’t make a living as a professional boxer, he was 22-years-old and an undefeated young guy. He sent his Lonsdale belt back to the board and then flew to Puerto Rico via New York to fight one of the greatest fighters of the 1960s, Ismael Laguna as a massive favour and beat him over 15 rounds.
“That is the stuff of legends. When we talk about the greatest wins by British fighters we have ever seen then that is probably it. Then there was the run he went on at Madison Square Gardens, incredible.”
Bunce holds both personal and professional affection for Buchanan and his memory is of a man who beat the best in their own backyard and never receiving the acclaim in his homeland for a succession of stunning achievements. He said: “I wrote a history book about boxing and Ken loved the chapters and the mentions which I gave him.
“I adored Ken as both a fighter and as a person. It was a privilege to have met and worked with him a lot over recent years. When he first won the WBA title in 1970 he didn’t come back with a belt, they gave him a trophy and that is quite a big distinction.
“He arrived back at the airport and it was only his wife and son who were waiting to greet him in Edinburgh. There was no reception, nothing. When he arrived back at his house he put his trophy on a table and then took a call from the British Boxing Board of Control telling him they are not going to recognise him as a world champion because they don’t recognise the WBA.
“They only recognised the WBC. So Ken has just pulled off one of the greatest achievements in boxing history and returned home without any fanfare only to be told the board aren’t going to recognise it. You can’t invent that type of crap. Ken then packed his bag, including his tartan shorts and left for New York to sell out a fight which had Muhammad Ali on the undercard. If that’s not mental then what is?”
The English pundit is in no doubt about Buchanan’s place in the boxing hierarchy and he admits he’s still astonished that the appreciation for the Scot extended well beyond these shores but never fully on his own doorstep. He said: “Ken wasn’t fashionable enough for some but in New York, the greatest fight crowd in the world, with the most knowledgeable fans in the world, there were 22,000 people who came to see him fight.
“I don’t understand it. There is all sorts of racism within British society, you know it as a Scot and I know it as a working class Londoner. We will both hit barriers on the road to where we are going, but Ken was never afraid of speaking his mind.
“He wouldn’t kowtow or go cap in hand to anyone, certainly not the Lords and QC’s who were around the British Boxing Board of Control. Ken fell out with them as he wouldn’t do a deal with the power brokers at British boxing and that’s why he wasn’t fashionable. It had nothing to do with his fighting style or his heart, his art or his craft. The New Yorkers recognised him and loved him.”
Bunce also hailed Buchanan as a boxing trailblazer for Scottish fighters from the past and present by being a class above the lot of them. He said: “Young Scottish fighters of today can look back over the last 50 years can look at the likes of Gary Jacobs for perseverance, the Docherty brothers, Josh Taylor and Alex Arthur and Scott Harrison.
“But none of those guys can do anything but look up to Ken Buchanan as he was at a different level. I’ve tried to explain that to people on the radio and on British television. What he did, what he achieved and who he was up against was just quite incredible.
“That’s before we get into Ken the man and the hardships which he suffered later on in his life. There’s a phrase that you can celebrate a death but I can’t help but celebrate Ken’s death by remembering his astonishing achievements.”
