How Good Was Earl Walls?

Must have been awesome to get ducked by Marciano


*** waits for rotten tomatoes to come flying from the crowd***

 

Good Enough to lose to Marciano sparring partner Tommy Harrison and fight to a draw with the ever so dangerous James J Parker.

Walls-Moore almost happened. Walls would have gotten dismantled.

 

Yeah he knocked out a past his prime Rex Layne twice. Walls could hit really hard with that right and had fast hands, long reach. He had a lot of negatives too. It shows in his resume, look at some of the men he lost to in his prime including a Marciano sparring partner.


Walls didn't do enough to warrant a shot against Marciano. He made it as high as # 5 in the ratings, but Marciano only took on # 1 rated contenders. Walls had no drawing power and hadn't done enough. Had Walls beaten Moore in 1954 he would have gotten a title shot. Walls with his size power reach would have made an interesting highlight reel KO for Marciano in a voluntary defense.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waZegII0JKA#t=49
Marciano and Walls shaking hands at 0:45

 

Marciano-Walls was talked about for Canada

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=l00DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6721,3125847&hl=en

 

Earl Walls in action ... beginning at the 45-second mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zezjr3Ydv0

 

Nice! Dangerous Puncher, Good Finisher, love how active he is with the jab. Wasn't much of a boxer though, very stationary no head movement a bit stiff. But man, he could really punch. Looked better than I thought, smooth finisher. Love the uppercut.

Would have made a great highlight reel KO victim to Marciano, he would have pressed marciano too. A lot of action.

 

17.11.03 - By Keith Terceira:

Earl Walls was born in 1928 the second eldest of ten children in the Township of Maidstone. He attended Es*** District High School leaving to work at Ford's with father Frank. At 19 Earl Walls came under the wing of Jimmy Jones a Toronto fight promoter. Training took him eventually to Stillman's Gym in New York City. A two fisted fighter Earl displayed a great left hook and powerful right.

May 5, 1948 in his pro debut Earl took on **** Lee and it ended in a 1st round KO. In fact 17 of Walls 43 fights ended in one round. More 1st round knockouts than the great Joe Louis who was going strong at the onset of Walls career.

Some victims of the Earls Power were Kurt Schiegl, Rex Layne (twice), George Parmentier, Vern Escoe, Joe Kahut, Tommy Harrison, Bernie Reynolds . Earl had wins over Freddie Beshore, Henry Hall, Billy Gilliam. Just as things were coming together for Walls, at age 27, on November 2, 1955 he retires from the ring.

Nicknamed the "Hooded Terror" Walls blinded sided the sport by his announced departure while in training to fight Ewart "ED" Potgieter the South African gargantuan who demolished and dismantled opponents. 1957 Bruce Olson died as a result of injuries sustained in match bout with the 7 foot 2 inch 325 pound giant. This had nothing to do with Earls retirement. I suspect injuries and the birth of his first child led to the decision.

Perhaps it was the frustration of not receiving a shot at the title from Rocky Marciano, though plans were attempted by former world champion Henry Armstrong and promoter Vic Tanny. It was even reported in the L.A. Times as headline read "L.A. Scribe Says Armstrong Trying to Promote Marciano-Walls Fight".

Archie Moore considered Walls as he started his run at Rocky but used the excuse that Walls didn't have the drawing power. More likely that Walls power was such that Moore couldn't gamble on being stopped short of his goal to meet Marciano. What resulted was the undignified suspect match-up of Valdez-Moore.

In 1954 when Harrison vs. Walls II occurred Walls was running a streak of 13 wins by KO before the sixth round and 2 losses on points to Joe Kahut and Tommy Harrison. He would avenge the loss to Joe six months later with a second round KO. April of 54 he walked into the ring and crushed Harrison in the first round.

It was also the last KO Earl would ever have. Injury could have possible stopped the power display that fans were used to from Walls. When he fought Edgardo Romero of Argentina ,a man who managed only a 6-12 career record the power had left. Edgardo pulled out a points win in 10 in Canada. Four months later Walls would return the favor, but Romero was notorious for having a weak chin, why either fight would go the distance is perplexing. Fact is that the last seven fights of his life, Earl went to the scorecards.

Points wins over Jimmy Slade . James J. Parker, Henry Hall and Billy Giliam put Earl in the #5 spot in the division . Maybe it was divine intervention. Perhaps the lure of family life that lead to the end of the beginning. Earl Walls after boxing became a force in real estate, a force in life, and an contributing bard on the Walls Family and the Underground Railroad

 

Interesting thread. It must be noted that Walls' proposed opponent Potgieter, despite being absolutèly massive, was not a big puncher.
Similar to Valuev in that respect.

 

No Paranoia. You mentioned Marciano turned down a Walls offer, where is your evidence of that?

Walls was born in 1928. How was he 36 years old when he lost to Harriso? He was actually 28 years old.

He did Kayo him in one round, he was a big puncher. Smooth finisher. Watch the film.

Then one year later, he lost to Eduardo Romero and drew with James J Parker. What do you make of that?

 

You asked how good Walls was

Out of the Contenders from 1950-1955

Earl Walls loses to : Walcott, Charles, Moore, Louis, Marciano, Johnson, Valdes, Henry, Baker,

Earl Walls goes 50/50 with Bob Satterfield Hurricane Jackson, Prime Rex Layne, Holman, Pastrano, Summerlin,

Earl Walls beats Matthews, Cokkell, Lastarza, Brion, Dunlap, Williams, Neuhas, Young Jack Johnson, Gardner, Oma, Sys, Bivins, Bucceroni



He was definitely a top 10-15 heavyweight of the Marciano era. Maybe even inside top 10 at his best.

 

Earl Walls was not as good as Don Cokkell.

Jamaican slugger Lloyd Barnett knocked Walls flat on his back twice in the last round of their fight, clearly beating Walls.

And Barnett was a two time loser to Don Cokkell.

Don was the same age as Walls and at the same stage of his career when they both met Barnett.