A long-time realtor and resident of The Kingsway area, Earl Walls was Canada’s Heavyweight Boxing Champion in the early 1950s. Born in Puce, Ontario, near Windsor, his boxing career was brief but extremely successful.

He began boxing at age 19 and quickly won the Ontario Amateur Heavyweight Championship. He then started his pro career with a knockout victory in a fight in New York City.

After losing his next three bouts, he set up training in Alberta and by June of 1952 had won the Canadian Heavyweight title. In his pro career, Walls knocked out 27 opponents — 14 of them in the first round.

By 1955, he was on his way to perhaps becoming the second Canadian ever (behind Tommy Burns) to take the World Heavyweight Championship. He was ranked fifth in the world, and a title shot against the champ Rocky Marciano seemed to be inevitable.

However, in June of that year, at the age of 27, Walls stunned the boxing world by announcing his retirement.

Married and with a young family, Walls no longer wanted to participate in the fight game. “Boxing is a business. Strictly a career with me. I don’t go for violence. And I don’t like the wrong impression people get of fighters – that we’re all gorillas, social bums. We’re really just an ordinary bunch of guys” Walls wrote in a 1955 article explaining his decision to retire.

Walls went on to enormous success in the real estate business while raising his family in Etobicoke. He was involved with a number of charities, including Variety Village’s Sunshine Games.

Walls, who was known as the “Hooded Terror” when he fought professionally, is a member of the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame and the Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame in Detroit. He died in December of 1996 of a heart attack.