An Edinburgh woman has told how boxing legend Ken Buchanan paid for her pregnant mum to live in a hotel after she was made homeless. The lightweight champion sadly passed away at the age of 77 earlier this month.
Devastated fans travelled far and wide to say a final farewell to the fighter and undisputed world champion a his funeral on Tuesday, April 26. Among the mourners included Edinburgh local, Lindsay Malone, who gave an account of when Ken helped out her mum in need.
She told the story of how Ken came to their rescue while her mum was expecting her. The 42-year-old told Edinburgh Live: "When my mum was pregnant [with me] and homeless, Ken gave them a safe place to stay at Victoria Park Hotel. I grew up knowing that. I moved to Leith when older and became friends with him as an adult."
After becoming pals with Ken, Lindsay spent time with the famous boxer, who encouraged her to give boxing a go. She said: "I had a lot of trauma myself and Ken told me to get into boxing and one day I gave it ago and found it was right up my street."
Lindsay was among hundreds of people who lined the streets with stories about the sporting hero. Since the funeral, tributes have flooded in for Edinburgh's greatest boxer, including current world super-lightweight champion, Josh Taylor.
East Lothian fighter Josh, inspired by Ken, was unable to attend the funeral while preparing for his title battle against Teofimo Lopez in New York in June. But he said: "He's not just a legend in boxing, but also in public, the fact he has a statue says everything.
"You could see the turnout he got, the number of people that came to witness this and see him off as the legend he was. He did things that might not be done again in boxing and in sport.
"There's a perception that once boxers are finished, nobody wants to know them any more but everybody still wanted to be part of Ken's life, and I think that shows what kind of character he was.
"He was a massive inspiration to us all [Scottish boxers]. The young ones have got a word nowadays - the OG, the original gangster - and Ken is the OG, he was the first one that did it. It was him, then it was me, now it's Josh Taylor and hopefully there's going to be more to come."
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