BOXER Ken Buchanan is to win another title 50 years on from his first fight.
The Leith-born fighter will receive this year’s Edinburgh Award following a public vote, with prints of the hands that helped him punch his way into the International Boxing Hall of Fame cast for a flagstone in the City Chambers quadrangle.
Edinburgh’s Lord Provost Donald Wilson, said: “It’s no secret that I am a great supporter of Ken and the recognition that he so richly deserves. In many ways, a lasting tribute for him in his home city is long overdue, and it seems right to me that his name will go on the wall of the City Chambers and those famous fighting hands will be immortalised in stone.
“It is with great pride that we announce Ken Buchanan as the tenth person to be presented with the Edinburgh Award. He really has made an outstanding contribution to sport, and this award is the city’s way of recognising all that he has achieved in his career.”
Buchanan, aged 71, will be given the gong in a ceremony early next year, joining the ranks of previous recipients including Olympic hero Sir Chris Hoy, judo veteran George Kerr and writers JK Rowling and Ian Rankin.
The only living UK athlete in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, he was just eight years old when he joined the Sparta boxing club, turning professional in 1965 and going on to fight on the same Madison Square Gardens bill as Muhammad Ali twice.
His achievements include wins in his first 33 professional bouts, holding the WBA World Lightweight Champion in 1970 and gaining an MBE in 1971.
In 1978 a poll by Boxing News, the paper of the UK boxing trade, named him the “greatest ever British boxer”.
Responding to the news, Buchanan said: “I am absolutely overwhelmed that this prestigious honour will be presented to me. The fact that I’ll have everlasting handprints cast in stone at the Royal Mile is just amazing and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me.”
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