The Crown has stayed an assault charge laid against the Burnaby boxer who won a bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games.
Vancouver Provincial Court documents alleged Dale Colin Walters, 60, assaulted another man on July 15, 2023.
However, those charges were stayed by Crown on Jan. 22.
Walters told Glacier Media earlier that 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.
Walters 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.”
Walters’ first appearance on the charge was Sept. 14.
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 mini-series that aired in the U.S.
When boxing and acting commitments began to conflict, the lure of the ring proved strongest and Walters dove into his boxing pursuits full bore.
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 11th 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.
