Apparently, he's a cousin of my barber. All I know is that he was the heavyweight champion of Canada, but can't find any of his fights.
Earl Walls was a prospect from Canada. He had two very good wins over Rex Layne during the reign of Marciano but he lost a couple of fights to second stringers that ruined his chances of a title fight. He was a big deal in Canada though. Early in his career Earl was given the build up and came to London where he looked impressive against hand picked guys but lost to a journeyman Lloyd Barnett who Don Cokkell beat. Earl also lost to a guy that Carmine Vingo beat. Here is Walls in London against an imported guy from France who was not a real boxer. . This content is protected
Walls had some big financial backing behind him because he was a big deal in Canada. His name would have been loosely put forward between the Lastarza and Charles title defences - but with no more justification than Willie Pastrano or Dan Buccaroni. The challengers that Rocky fought were better and more worthy than Earl Walls. More importantly the challengers Rocky fought were able to win their fights and stay unbeaten until the June/September period where a title fight could happen outdoors. The only wins that could possibly have projected Walls into consideration was the Layne wins. He beat Layne in August 1953 when Marciano was scheduled to meet Lastarza weeks later. The next date for a title fight would be may or June 54 so that gave Walls 8 months to build a stronger case than Ezzard Charles. Walls did not do that. In the January Earl lost to lightheavyweight Tommy Harrison who was fresh off knockout loss to Ezzard Charles and Dan Buccceroni. Walls won another couple of fights but it did not eclipse Charles stunning knockouts of better fighters Wallace and Satterfeild. then by the August 54 (weeks ahead of the Charles-Marciano rematch) Walls was beaten again by a 9 fight novice who never won a fight again. Walls would still have been a big draw in Canada but he was not beating Marciano if he could lose to Tommy Harrison and Edgardo Romano. Walls headlined in maple leaf gardens a lot. The fans liked him. He must have earned well in Canada. Probably made more money than a lot of guys who did fight for the title. Your Barber is related to a famous fighter.
I think that it would have been on the cards if he had won another key fight. His drawing power in Canada, might have made him a logical choice.
Earl Walls was a terrific athlete who had problems getting motivated for fights against less than stellar opponents. When he realized he'd never fight Marciano his work really suffered. Though he lost close decisions to Slade and Romero, he came back and whipped both of them, and he avenged the points loss to Harrison with a shocking 1st round knockout! In his early losses, Walls was poorly managed and went into fights sometimes not having eaten for days. Earl Walls had the makings of a world champion but never had an Al Weill or James Norris behind him. Unfortunate waste of talent. In his prime, I would have liked his chances against most of the top contenders of his day. This content is protected Walls shaking hands with Marciano at 0:45 Walls - Marciano was close to happening https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19531016&id=S7IwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l00DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6721,3125847&hl=e Walls in action at 0:45 mark This content is protected As you can see Walls was a very dangerous contender at his best. He had good size 6’3 200lb 78” reach. He was a smooth, intelligent boxer with dynamite in either hand. Walls could really punch hard, he was dangerous early in fights. Walls climbed his way to back to back # 5 ratings by ring magazine in 53 and 54. He scored two brutal knockouts over a still highly regarded Rex Layne. About the two Layne fights, Layne was already an erratic mess at this pint, but from articles at the time it seems Layne was forced into the first Walls fight after a bad bout of the flu, the fight had already been delayed for two weeks with reports of Rex being bed ridden. Despite suffering a bad knock out, Layne was rushed into the rematch just 10 weeks later. Layne apparently boxed well and was ahead on points before getting clocked again. 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
Walls was better than cockell for sure, but we all know you love to glorify those euro heavies of the 50s
Very early in his career when he was green How about once Walls hit his prime he defeated Jimmy Slade easily . Slade knocked out that tub of lard cockell in 4 rounds
Cokkell never could have lost to that tub of lard Edgardo Romano that Walls managed to lose to before he could fight Marciano. When Cokkell was in line to fight Marciano he was beating guys like Lastarza and Mathews. You can’t knock the Don.
