Brian Packer (2 March 1944 – 30 August 2021) was a British boxer. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

. At the 1964 Summer Olympics, he lost in his first fight to

Takao Sakurai was a Japanese boxer who won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics. Amateur career Born in Sawara, Chiba, Sakurai began boxing in high school, keeping his training secret to his parents. Although there was no trainer in his high school, Sakurai won ...

of Japan in the Round of 32.

Biography

Packer was born in March 1944 in

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

, and began to box at the age of eleven. While working at a

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

as an apprentice, he was he should never box again, unless he wanted to suffer permanent damage to his hand. However, after multiple operations, he went on to win the

Amateur Boxing Association England Boxing, known until 2013 as the Amateur Boxing Association of England, is the Sports governing body, governing body of amateur boxing clubs in England. There are separate organisations for Scotland and Wales with boxing in Northern Irela ...

(ABA) bantamweight title. He won the 1963 and 1964 ABA British bantamweight titles, when boxing out of the Dartford ABC. At the

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Packer competed in the men's bantamweight event. However, he lost his first-round bout to

, who would go on to win the gold medal. Following the Olympics, Paker became a professional boxer, winning fourteen of his fifteen fights. Packer then went up to the

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

division, with his final fight taking place in November 1968. The following month, while working as a welder, he damaged his leg during a fall, which ended his boxing career. Packer died on 30 August 2021 at the age of 77, after a long battle with

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

.Team GB boxer and Rochester pensioner Brian Packer, who fought at 1964 Tokyo Olympics, passes away following dementia battle
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Brian 1944 births 2021 deaths British male boxers Olympic boxers for Great Britain Boxers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Dartford Bantamweight boxers Deaths from dementia in England