Quick Facts
Biography
Ambrose Palmer (16 October 1910 – 16 October 1990) was a talented world-class professional prize fighter and a leading Australian rules footballer of the 1930s and early 1940s.
Palmer made his debut as a rover for Victorian Football League (VFL) club Footscray in the 1933 VFL season, eventually playing 83 matches for Footscray before his retirement in 1943.
Palmer also boxed professionally, winning 57 bouts & losing only 7 during his stellar career from 1929 to 1938 and held at various times the Australian middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight boxing titles. He was managed by Hugh D. McIntosh
In Round One of the 1939 VFL season, Footscray were playing Essendon Football Club and Palmer was sandwiched between two Essendon players, suffering sixteen jaw, cheekbone and skull fractures. For a while the injuries were thought to be life-threatening, but Palmer eventually recovered to play further matches for Footscray.
He later became a renowned boxing trainer, notably for Jack Johnson and Johnny Famechon. and Len Dittmar. He was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.