Dale WALTERS

Dale Walters took up boxing at the age of six, encouraged to pursue the sport by his father, Len, a championship boxer in the 1950s. For many years, however, Dale’s time was split between boxing and his fledgling acting career, and he had several small television roles in the early 1980s. He gave up on acting in 1982, however, when he began representing Canada in boxing on the international stage. After an eleventh-place finish at the World Championships that year, he attended the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 1983 Pan American and was eliminated from both tournaments following controversial judging decisions. He then entered the bantamweight division at the 1984 Summer Olympics where he was more successful: after receiving a bye in the opening round, he defeated Mustapha Kouchene of Algeria, Hiroaki Takami of Japan, and Pedro Décima of Argentina, before being bested by Héctor López of Mexico, the eventual silver medalist, and taking home bronze.

Walters turned professional shortly after the Games, having never been defeated by another Canadian boxer, or on Canadian soil, as an amateur boxer, and having held three national titles in his division from 1982 through 1984. He had suffered a serious hand injury during the final years of his amateur career, however, which curtailed his professional one: after six straight wins, he lost the bout for the Canadian featherweight title to Tony Pep and retired in the aftermath. He then worked as boxing broadcaster and a trainer at his facility, Ringside Fitness, in Vancouver. He has been made a member of the Canadian Boxing (1996), Burnaby Sports (2003), and British Columbia Sports (2006) Halls of Fame.