THE FAMILY of Golborne boxing legend Peter Kane have reacted with delight to news that the square in his home village is being named after him.

Peter's sister Margaret Kay, aged 88, and who still lives in Golborne called it a great honour.

And his son Peter Cain, a butcher who lives in Appley Bridge, said he was very happy and that it made the family very proud.

Mrs Kay, of Edge Green Lane, said: "It's a great honour. He deserved it. He worked hard for it. He wasn't pompous.

"He didn't go about saying, 'I'm Peter Kane'. It never changed him. He was always a Golborne lad at heart."

The family will be invited as guests of honour to the official opening of the new £120,000 square in the next few weeks which features an ornate clock and paving.

His name will be engraved in a paving stone in the middle of the square.

But Mrs Kay revealed that her boxing hero brother, nicknamed The Golborne Blacksmith, would not have even stepped into a ring -- if his mum had anything to do with it.

Mrs Kay said: " It made my mother ill watching him boxing. She didn't like it. But she was a very quite woman and never raised her voice."

Peter, who died in 1991, worked as a blacksmith at Jordan's Blacksmiths at Lane Head in Lowton where he honed his muscles.

Described as one of the greatest fighters Britain has ever produced, he was born in Heywood on April 28 1918 but moved to Golborne at the age of three.

A superfit teenager, kept fit as a blacksmith and began his fighting career aged just 16.

Beginning his career as Peter Cain, legend has it that this was changed to Kane following a misprint on a fight billing in Blackpool. He thought it sounded more like a boxer's name and the new spelling stuck.

He won the world fly-weight championship in 1938 by outboxing American Jackie Jurich with only one sound hand -- later he had to have the little finger on his hand amputated.

After losing the title in 1943, he became European bantamweight champion in 1947 before retiring in 1948 and returning to work as a blacksmith at Naylor Bros Foundry in Golborne.

But his sister hardly saw any of his fights. She said: "My husband didn't believe in women going to watch boxing matches. He said it was a man's sport and there was too much bad language.

"So I only went to a few matches. But it was very exciting. I was too excited to shout out but I was cheering for him all the same."

Mrs Kay added: "His only fault was he gambled. He once had a solid gold map of the world given to him by the Americans when he went in their hall of boxing fame. He used it as insurance against a gamble . . . but he lost. But I never heard him grumble about anything.

He was brought up at number one Edge Green Lane -- just across the street from Mrs Kay's house now.

He was married three times and had three children.

During the war he was a fitness instructor in Blackpool alongside footballers Stanley Matthews and Jack Dodds and heavyweight boxer Jack London.

Mrs Kay said: "I asked him what would he do if he had it all to do again and he said, 'Maggie, I wouldn't change a thing'."