Ken Buchanan
Great Photo of Ken Buchanan. It makes me sad though. You can see the brightness in his eyes. He was full of life in this photo. It has to be before Duran. After his loss to Roberto Duran. Buchanan was never the same. It was mental. The fight got into his head and he could never accept the loss. He's convinced himself but for the low blow, he might have won. Nothing and no one could have saved him from Roberto Duran that night.
That's the thing about boxers, especially champions, and even more so the very great ones. When the gig is up, they can't accept it. The very quality that got them where they are; heart, courage, determination, intestinal fortitude, desire, and that deep burning desire to never say die, the refusal to lose, betrays them at the end of their careers, it can make fools of them. The very quality the once was their best attribute is now their worst. Sad but true. Just look at Julio Cesar Chavez at the end of his career and you'll see what i'm talking about.
That's what happened to Buchanan. The fight and the loss to Duran didn't ruin Ken's quality of life. That came from within. Over the years he became bitter. His unhappiness is evident in every interview I have ever seen.
Ken Buchanan & wife Carol: After the Duran fight?
10 comments:
I liked Buchanan and I remember how much he talked about a rematch,but that fight was all Duran;Buchanen did well to hang in there for 13 rounds.I've seen the fight several times-and before I see it again I plan to get an eye examination;Buchanan doesn't get hit where he claims.The tape clearly shows that he doesn't get hit in the jewels when they went at it after the bell.Duran,of course,went on to blow his next fight-Dejesus I-and Buchanan's only hope would be to fight Duran when he wasn't properly prepared.Every time I see the fight,I remember what a great announcer Don Dunphy was.
Ken was hit in the balls, alright. It wasn't just the one time either. In the course of the fight he took several low blows. His cup did a good job most of the time but by the thirteenth round, it had either got dislodged or maybe the accumulation of blows to the groin had an effect.You might be right about some of the blows not being in the balls but that last one definitely was. The medical report after the fight confirmed 'severe bruising to the testicles and circumcised penis' One of the doc's comments was, 'Painful.Very painful' Any man familiar with the fight game knows what he meant.
Fighters in those days didn't get a five minute break when they took a low blow. Refs sometimes dragged things out to give the guy a chance to get over it. But that could cause trouble with the spectators.
Taking one in the balls is agony, ever fighter knows that. But it doesn't last long. Five minutes is enough for any fighter to get on top of it.
There's another thing. Low blows are sometimes accidental. In that case is it right to punish the guy who lands one?
Giving his opponent five minutes to get over the pain is a better bet.
A lot of people think groin protectors give fighters immunity to low blows. But even top quality cups don't work a hundred percent. They can take a lot of the sting out of the blow but it still hurts like hell. A fighter in good shape will handle the pain if he's given five minutes to get over it. But after a vicious hammering to the balls like the one Duran gave Buchanan,the guy's going to be in agony. He should be given a good twenty minutes to get over it. If he doesn't need all that time, he doesn't have to take it but give him the chance. Apart from that,the fans will get value for money if the fight isn't cut short.
How about a re-match?
When a fighter is hit in the balls, who's to say whether he needs five minutes or twenty minutes to get over it? Pain levels vary. A lot depends on the severity of the blow and how much punishment a man can take.
Apart from that, some guys go down and play act like they're in agony. With others, their pride won't let them claim a foul even when they're in real pain and need time out.
These days, with video evidence, it should be easy to tell where a blow lands and with how much force.
O.K., that doesn't get over the problem of whether the foul proof cup was doing its job or not. Some of them are better than others and some of them get dislodged. But that's not the fault of the guy who delivered the blow. It's the responsibility of all fighters to make sure they're equipped with good quality groin protection.
A medical examination on the spot would show whether the blow had caused damage. If the guy is in genuine agony, a re-match should be compulsory. If he's play acting, he should be punished for taking a dive.
You guys make it sound so easy. I've been ringside a whole bunch of times when a fighter has gone down claiming a low blow. A lot of the times he was putting on the agony, trying to win on a foul or get the other guy punished. The only person who knows how much pain he's in is the guy himself and he's not telling. Not the truth anyway.
Medical examinations aren't as good as you make out. Sometimes it takes hours for the bruising and swelling to show up. In the meanwhile,the doc is forced to prod around the guy's balls to check for bruising and, like in Buchanan's case, 'contusions and abrasions to the circumcised penis'. Not as scientific as you guys suggest!
Video evidence isn't that useful, either. Say a guy lands a pile driver to the groin. The victim's cup absorbs the impact. It might look bad on video but the guy's not in any real pain.Even so, he crashes to the canvas and starts groaning and writhing about for the benefit of the camera. Chances are, he'll earn himself a break and see the other guy punished.
It can happen the other way round too and sometimes it's the cup itself that does the damage. The video might show a blow as not much more than border-line but it manages to dislodge the guy's cup and drive it into his balls. He goes down in agony but he doesn't get any sympathy from the ref or the crowd.
There's no such thing as saints or sinners in boxing. It's always been a hard man's sport and it always will be. Most fighters hit low or take one in the balls from time to time. Sometimes the blows are accidental. A lot of the time, they're deliberate. Video evidence is no more accurate than the ref's own pair of eyes.If he judges the blow to be deliberate, give the guy time to get over the low blow (five or ten minutes are enough) and there's no harm done.
The crap about 'Low Blows' goes back to when Fighting was called The Noble Art. It never was noble and it never will be.It's a hard game but men enjoy it.
Most low blows are deliberate. We all know that. So, cut out the crap about fouls and make them legal.
Yeah, make low blows legal. We'd all agree with that. When you've paid the cost of a ticket you don't want a fight cut short because some guy reckons he's taken one in the nuts. They're usually faking it. When it's genuine, it can be agony. We all know that. But it doesn't take long to get over it. Five minutes are enough for anybody.
There's a lot of crap talked about low blows. You get them in all contact sport. If you don't believe that, try rugby for a couple of seasons. It's part of it.
Any man hit in the balls knows it's agony but it doesn't last long. Like the guy said, five minutes is about right to get over it. It's easy to fake getting it in the balls so don't expect much mercy from the ref.
What if you get it low a lot of times like Buchanan? That's agony man.I know I've had it. A fighter should make sure his cup's top quality. Apart from that, there's nothing he can do. Just get on with it. Low blows are going to happen. There's big money to be made. Who cares about the rules when there's a title and a whole stack of money waiting to be picked up.
It's up to the fighter to make sure his cups in good shape and get in first with the low blows. That's what most of them do anyway so stop bull-shitting about low blows. Men who follow the fight game know the score.
You talk like it's inevitable boxers getting hit low. What we're talking about is the difference between fighting and boxing. In boxing you've got rules. In fighting you haven't. In The States, they talk about fights so they're telling you anything goes.
A fighter gets into the ring ready to take what's coming. Boxers are different. That's why most of the good fighters come from the States.
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