Boxing legend Ken Buchanan set to be honoured by Edinburgh

FORMER world champion boxer Ken Buchanan is to be honoured for his lifetime achievements by the city Edinburgh.

Ken Buchnan is being honoured tonight. Picture: Greg Macvean

A civic reception is being held in Edinburgh’s City Chambers by the Lord Provost tonight, with prize belts belonging to the former lightweight-champion displayed in front of a heavyweight audience of Scottish boxers and Mr Buchanan’s closest friends and family.

The Lord Provost Donald Wilson said: “Fifty years on from his first professional fight, it will be a proud moment to be able to mark Ken Buchanan’s career.

“He’s one of Edinburgh’s most decorated sporting legends and on behalf of the city we want to give him the local recognition he deserves. It will be fantastic to be able to relive some of his biggest boxing moments.”

Councillor Steve Cardownie, Depute Lord Provost, added: “This is long overdue and I am delighted to have played a part in ensuring that Ken Buchanan’s career will be celebrated in a fitting manner- a Civic Reception in his home city.”

Buchanan, now 70, was a Boxing Undisputed World Lightweight Champion. He joined the Sparta club aged eight and turned professional in 1965. He is the only living British fighter in the International Boxing Hall of Fame which he was inducted into in 2000, twice fought on the same bill as Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden, and was voted Greatest Ever British Boxer in a 1978 poll organised by the sport’s British trade newspaper Boxing News.

He said: “I can’t thank Edinburgh enough for everything the city has done for me, I’m so happy to say I’m Scottish. After all these years, it’s wonderful to be recognised in this way.”