Danas Pozniakas (19 October 1939 – 4 February 2005) was a

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...

amateur light-heavyweight

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who won the European title in 1965, 1967 and 1969 and an Olympic gold medal in 1968. Pozniakas was born in Poland as Dan Pozniak, and in the 1950s moved to Vilnius, Lithuania, where he took up boxing at age 13. He won the Soviet title in 1962 and a European silver medal in 1963, but at the 1964 Olympic trials lost to Aleksei Kiselyov and was not selected. By the next Olympics, he was a double European champion and a clear favorite. He decisively won his first three bouts and received the Olympic gold by default, as his opponent Ion Monea had a broken nose from his previous fight and withdrew from the final. Monea lost to Pozniakas in the 1967 and 1969 European championships. Pozniakas became the

Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR Unified All-Russian Sports Classification () is a system which regulates the Russian physical education system requirements for both athletes and coaches. History In the Soviet period Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR () exist ...

in 1965 and was selected as the

Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year Since 1956, Lithuania honors their greatest athlete of the year Athlete of the Year is an award given by various sports organizations for the athlete whom they have determined to be deserving of such recognition. Definition of "athlete" *In m ...

in 1968; in 1969 he was awarded the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

. He retired around 1969 with a record of 203 wins out of 217 bouts. In 1974, he became an

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international referee and later coached the national team of

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in 1983–88. Between 1991 and 1994 he served as president of Lithuanian Boxing Federation. He died of a heart attack in 2005, aged 65. Since his death in 2005, an annual boxing tournament is held in Vilnius, in his honor.

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* 1939 births 2005 deaths Martial artists from Podlaskie Voivodeship Lithuanian male boxers Armed Forces (sports society) sportspeople Light-heavyweight boxers Olympic boxers for the Soviet Union Boxers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in boxing Lithuanian Sportsperson of the Year winners Soviet male boxers Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Boxers from Białystok Burials at Antakalnis Cemetery Lithuanian people of Polish descent Boxers from Vilnius {{Lithuania-boxing-bio-stub