During his thirteen-year boxing career, Len Walters amassed an impressive 139-10 amateur and 14-4 professional record. He won four BC senior and two Canadian championships, and also captured the US amateur featherweight title. He competed for Canada in both the 1950 British Empire Games and the 1952 Olympic Games.

A Vancouverite, Walters began boxing in 1943 at age twelve. He boxed out of the Burrard Athletic Club and later the Police Mutual Benevolent Club, under coach and mentor, Dave Brown. His string of provincial, national and international titles began with a victory in the 1943 BC Amateur Boxing Association junior championship, as a 70-lb. fighter. By 1948, while still a teenager, Walters had won three of his six Vancouver Golden Gloves titles in 1945-46, 1948-50, and 1952 and the first of four senior BC boxing championships in 1948-50 and 1952. As a bantamweight, he captured the Canadian open boxing championship in 1949 and 1952.

In 1951, Walters won the US Amateur featherweight championship, when he scored a TKO in his fifth bout. He was only the third Canadian to win this prestigious title. As a result of this victory, Walters was invited to join a group of American boxers on a tour of Europe. On the tour, he fought in England, Sweden and Germany, winning three of his four bouts. Walters also captured three Western Canadian Diamond Belt crowns in 1948-49 and 1952 and three Northwest Golden Gloves titles in 1949-50 and 1952.

Walters represented Canada at the 1950 British Empire Games in New Zealand. Although favoured to win, he lost to his opponent from South Africa in a controversial decision by the judges. Two years later, Walters competed at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, where he won his first two bouts before breaking his hand during his third fight.

National recognition for athletic achievement came when he was named 1951 Canadian amateur “Athlete of the Year,” for which he received the Norton H. Crowe Memorial Trophy. The following year, the City of Vancouver recognized him with a Civic Merit Award.

Walters boxed as a professional from 1953-57 and compiled a 14-4 win-loss record. He is remembered as a brilliant bantamweight, who dominated his sport. His son and fellow BC Sports Hall of Famer, Dale Walters, continued his legacy, winning the bronze medal in the bantamweight division at the 1984 Olympics Games, Canada’s first Olympic boxing medal in 52 years.