Undefeated OPBF Super Lightweight Champion, Chang-Kil Lee of South Korea, steps up to challenge former World Lightweight Champion, Ken Buchanan of Scotland. Buchanan may not have been the World Champion anymore but he was about to prove he was still world class! More info below...
Ken Buchanan just 6 months earlier was considered the best lightweight on the planet. He turned pro in 1965 and went undefeated in 33 fights, winning the BBBoC Scottish and British Lightweight titles along the way, before suffering his first ever loss against Miguel Velazquez for the European Lightweight title in January 1970. But just 8 months later and Buchanan would win the WBA World Lightweight title via split decision against Ismael Laguna. In February 1972 Buchanan would unify the title when he beat Ruben Navarro over 15 rounds for the vacant WBC Lightweight belt. Although Buchanan would be stripped of his WBC title shortly afterwards over a contract dispute, he was widely viewed as the TRUE Lightweight World Champion. He would defend the WBA Lightweight title in a rematch with Ismael Laguna in September 1971 but this time won by a much more convincing 15 round unanimous decision. Just as it seemed Buchanan was set to become one of the all time greats of the division he made an ill-fated move in June 1972 by accepting the challenge of a young and untested, but dangerous, fighter by the name of Roberto Duran... For 13 rounds Duran dismantled Buchanan with power punches and cheap shots to wrestle away the WBA World Lightweight title and become the new Champion. Buchanan was bitter about the loss, claiming Duran had used every foul trick in the book to win and he was actively pursuing a rematch. But in the meantime, Buchanan had to take fights elsewhere and in his very next fight just 3 months later he would send former World Lightweight and Light Welterweight Champion, Carlos Ortiz, into retirement after forcing him to quit on his stool after 6 rounds. Buchanan's record stepping in against Lee sat at a still very impressive 44-2.
Chang-Kil Lee was barely 2 years into his pro career when he challenged the much more experienced Buchanan but he had already established himself as a talented fighter who could not only box but also knock people out. Although not household names, Lee had fought and beaten some very experienced competition from within the Asian sector such as former Japanese Welterweight Champion, Kazuyoshi Kubokura (twice, both by KO!), reigning OPBF Super Lightweight Champion Lion Furuyama, future WBC World Lightweight Champion Guts Ishimatsu, reigning Japanese Super Lightweight Champion Hiroshi Shoji and undefeated future WBA World Welterweight title challenger Shoji Tsujimoto. Lee was undefeated in 19 contests with 5 successful defences of the OPBF Super Lightweight title under his belt.
This fight would mark the first time Lee had fought outside of South Korea and he came into it wanting to prove himself on the world stage but Buchanan had other plans. Buchanan was sharp and accurate while also elusive, he was tagging Lee at will and it took just under 5 minutes for him to put Lee away. Buchanan staggered Lee early in Rd 2 and after trapping him in a corner he eventually dropped him as well for a mandatory 8 count but Lee was still hurt. Buchanan rushed in and finished it with some heavy blows while Lee tried to cover up on the ropes. The ref had seen enough and called it off, awarding Buchanan a TKO win.
It was the most impressive win Buchanan had had in some time and he was worried after the fight he might have been TOO impressive and scared off Roberto Duran from agreeing to a rematch. Whether that reason was true or not is unknown but what we do know is that Buchanan never got his rematch with Duran... Buchanan would go on to reclaim the BBBoC British Lightweight title and even win the European Lightweight title which had eluded him earlier in his career but he never won another World title.
Lee continued to defend his OPBF Super Lightweight title and in 1974 he earned a shot at the WBA World Super Lightweight title but was knocked out in 6 rounds by the Champion, Antonio Cervantes. Lee would successfully defend the OPBF title 3 more times before eventually losing it to Wongso Suseno in 1975 and promptly retiring from the sport with a 26-3-1 record. Fun fact, Wongso Suseno, is the first Indonesian to ever win an international championship belt...
