The many memorial benches in Glasgow Botanic Gardens show how for many people and families this place holds a deep meaning for them. The benches also provide a welcome place of rest and somewhere to chat with friends. However, outside of direct families relations, the names on the benches seldom give the sitter much information about the person that has been memorialised.

I was therefore intrigued by the somewhat hidden away bench commemorating the boxer Peter Keenan.

A search on the internet showed that Peter Keenan was a indeed a celebrated Glaswegian bantamweight boxer in the 1950s. Obituaries in the Herald and Guardian newspapers give more details of his career. He was born in Anderston in Glasgow in 1928. As the plaque says, he is the
only Scot to have won two Lonsdale belts outright. This means that he won three consecutive championship bouts on two separate occasions.

He won European, British and Empire crowns. He only got one chance at the world title in South Africa, which he lost to a South African opponent. Hence he became known, rather unfortunately, as the best British boxer never to win a world championship.

When he retired from boxing he became a boxing promoter and brought Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay, Rocky Marciano and Sugar Ray Robinson to box exhibitions in Glasgow.

The bench is on the path to the right looking at the flagpole. You can see a fight between Keenan and Bobby Boland of Dundee on YouTube.