I can rest in the knowledge people will be turning up at the Hall of Fame 100 years from now and being made aware of my achievements

we all rented a big villa, which Kenny stayed in with us,’ recalled McCormack.

‘Young Josh was there, taking it all in, and it was just a great experience. The laddies loved listening to all his stories.

‘When he walked into the Wild Card, absolutely everyone knew who he was. They were all over to him, making a fuss. Kenny thought nobody would remember him.

‘Freddie Roach was so delighted to have him there. Freddie and his brothers used to watch him on American TV a lot because he was boxing in Madison Square Garden.

‘Freddie actually says that Kenny is his all-time favourite boxer.

‘That’s quite something when you consider he has worked with everybody over his career.’

Certainly, Buchanan’s story gives Taylor much to consider as he seeks to enter superfight territory in the States himself.

‘I often felt that living my life as a boxer in America was like starring in a movie,’ Buchanan once told me. ‘America is a place where boxers seem to be cherished.

‘I remember boxing in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and being woken up in the middle of the night by women at the door, wearing dressing gowns or almost nothing at all. The thought was that they would get in and sap my strength the night before a fight.

‘I always shut the door on them. After all, my dad was normally in a room just down the hall.’

Buchanan’s rise was built on a punishing left jab. Watch the early stages of his victory over Laguna in the blistering 120-degree heat of San Juan, though, and you’ll appreciate the speed and venom of the right hands he could deliver behind them.

Buchanan forced the issue from the start. Tactically smart, technically strong, he was as game as they come, too.

In the 15th and final round of his points win over Ruben Navarro in Los Angeles to unite the WBA and WBC belts, in which he suffered a burst eardrum, Buchanan took a thunderous right — and immediately put the home fighter back in his place with a sustained onslaught.

In the end, it took an emerging superstar to unseat him. Roberto Duran had just turned 21 when they met at Madison Square Garden in the summer of 1972 and was already a formidable force.

Yet, the fact he was awarded the contest after sending Buchanan to the canvas with a low blow after the bell at the end of the 13th tortured the Scot for years.

‘The Duran fight was a fierce contest,’ renowned promoter Bob Arum told

Sportsmail. ‘Buchanan was just a tremendous fighter. Such a gutsy guy. He was a real warrior.

‘Both him and Jim Watt were really popular in America.’

Buchanan and Watt would also thrill a Glasgow audience in January 1973 when clashing at the St Andrew’s Club for the British title. Buchanan took the verdict in a gruelling bout to reclaim the crown and win the Lonsdale Belt outright, putting himself back on the road towards one final crack at the world title two years later.

He travelled to Tokyo to face Guts Ishimatsu for the WBC version, but his left eye, damaged in training after a sparring partner poked his thumb in it, swelled up and he lost the decision.

Buchanan did win the European title before retiring as a result of long-term damage to that same eye and his return after four years out of the ring in 1979 following the collapse of his marriage to first wife Carol carried ominous portents.

Defeats followed. His career petered out. He went back to working as a joiner and ended up taking unlicensed contests for quick money before calling it a day.

Buchanan, at 74, now lives in a sheltered housing complex in Leith. To suggest his life has been serene and straightforward since the acclaim of Canastota would be gilding the lily. His story, like most good fairy tales, always seems destined to contain some darker moments.

Yet, friends remain on hand. He still visits the Tam O’Shanter pub on Great Junction Street, run by his friend Eric Brown, a coach at Lochend ABC and an old-time sparring partner from the now-defunct Sparta Boxing Club, situated just off Leith Walk.

His belts are on show in another bar nearby. Until around 18 months ago, he was still doing some training at Lochend.

‘He still pops into the club every three or four months,’ said McCormack. ‘There was one time I had him shadowboxing in the ring and we put a wee video of it on our Facebook page. It got something like 300,000 hits.’

Proof, if required, there is still a lot of love for Buchanan out there. Sculptor Alan Herriot has completed a statue of him.

Edinburgh’s Lord Provost Frank Ross has spoken of plans to house it at the top of Leith Walk this year.

‘I just hope there’s a push to get a date fixed and get it put up while Kenny’s still here,’ stated McCormack. ‘He is a legend and deserves everything he gets.’ Canastota was a turning point in Buchanan’s story, no doubt. Yet, it seems wrong that the only lasting tribute to his brilliance lies in a small museum in an unremarkable town 3,000 miles away. It really is time for another celebration to remind him, and everyone, of the magnitude of his achievements. A bronzed likeness in the city of his birth seems as good a way as any to ensure that he is never allowed to slip from view again.