NEWS AND OPINION
BRIAN PACKER, 1944-2021
Matt Christie pays tribute to the 1964 Olympian
Matt Christie
NEAR THE END: Packer poses in his orginal Olympic blazer that he was given in 1964
FIFTY-SEVEN years before Team GB excelled at the Tokyo Olympics, Brian Packer represented his country at the 1964 Games in the very same city. The world was different then, so too the sport of boxing that Packer thought long and hard about giving up, so crushing was the disappointment of losing a close decision to eventual bantamweight gold medallist Takao Sakurai of Japan in the first round.
Packer, who grew up in Northfleet, passed away last week at the age of 77 after a 13-year battle with dementia. He had also endured a quadruple heart bypass. By the end, he didn’t always recognise his beloved June, his wife and sweetheart since he was 16 years old.