The Burnaby boxer who won a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics is denying an allegation of assault in July.
Vancouver Provincial Court documents allege Dale Colin Walters, 60, assaulted another man July 15.
Walters told Glacier Media the situation had to do with a troublesome homestay student who was living in his attic.
He denied assaulting the man, saying it was a verbal dispute about the man remaining in the home any further.
Walters said the man, listed on court documents as Lucca Borzemi, called police and alleged the assault.
The boxer said he has been taking in homestay students for 20 years without incident, working through the Tamwood International Homestay Program.
“I take English language students into my house,” he said. “I’ve never had any problems.”
He said he got a call from the agency asking if he could take a student who didn’t like where he was at the time. Walters agreed and the man moved into his attic room.
He said his first indication of trouble was the man’s complaint that his previous homestay had kids who were noisy.
“That kinda bothered me,” Walters said.
He said he asked the man to clean up his room as he wanted to check its condition the next day.
“It was a pigsty,” Walters said, adding the man then asked for an extension on his homestay.
Walters said he was also tired of the man coming home late and waking him up.
He said he called Tamwood and said he didn’t want the man there any longer.
Then, the man began texting him “cheeky” notes.
Walters invited him downstairs to discuss the situation. Instead, he said, the texts continued.
“I went upstairs and said, ‘Look, I’m sick and tired of your crap. You’re not getting an extension,’” Walters said.
“I didn’t hit him or anything. I just got up in his face and said, ‘Get out of my house.’”
Still, the man called the police.
“The cops arrived and he said I assaulted him,” Walters said.
“I think it was disrespectful,” he added. “All I asked from this guy was to keep his room tidy and clean.”
Walters’ first appearance on the charge was Sept. 14. The case was adjourned Nov. 16 to a new date.
Championship boxing career
Walters, who was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, juggled an aspiring acting career with his sporting aspirations in high school, a time he shared with actor Michael J. Fox.
Walters’ hall of fame biography said he competed against Fox for roles. He landed a starring role in Ritter’s Cove, a Beachcombers spinoff as well as a leading role in a Huckleberry Finn miniseries that aired in the U.S.
However, as the two commitments began to conflict, Walters chose gloves.
His biography said he won the 54 kg bantamweight Canadian championship three straight years from 1982-84, earning the outstanding boxer in Canada distinction each of those years.
In his first international fight at the 1982 World Championships, Walters defeated reigning world champion Slavimir Zabart of Poland before finishing eleventh in the tournament.
At the 1982 Commonwealth Games, Walters was favoured to take a medal but a controversial decision eliminated him from the tournament early.
Another controversial decision knocked him out of the Pan American Games a year later.
Prior to the Los Angeles Games, Walters was ranked ninth in the world.
It was at the Games that he captured a bronze medal in the 54 kg bantamweight division. He became the first Canadian boxer on the podium in 52 years since Horace ‘Lefty’ Gwynne punched his way to gold.
Walters was inducted into the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996.
