Ralph Dupas (October 14, 1935 – January 25, 2008) was an American boxer from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

who won the world

light middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

championship.

Early boxing career

Dupas was the second of eleven children of a New Orleans fisherman, Peter Dupas. He became a professional boxer in 1950 at the age of 14. Trainer

Angelo Dundee Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name *Angelo Accattino (born 1966), Italian prelate of the Catholic Church *Angelo Acciaioli (bishop) (1298–1357), Italian Rom ...

saw Dupas fight and took him to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

to train him. Dupas became a ranked contender in the

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

division when he defeated Armand Savoie in 1953. By 1955, after beating a variety of top fighters such as

Paddy DeMarco Paddy DeMarco, (February 10, 1928 – December 13, 1997) was a lightweight professional boxer from Brooklyn, New York who took the Lightweight World Championship on March 5, 1954 against Black lightweight boxer Jimmy Carter. His managers inc ...

and Kenny Lane, Dupas was the top-ranked lightweight in the world. In May 1957 Dupas challenged Joe Brown for the lightweight title, but lost by an eighth-round knockout. Earlier in 1957, Dupas had filed a lawsuit to establish his race, with Dupas contending that he was white, and therefore permitted to box white opponents in then-segregated Louisiana. Judge Rene Viosca ruled in favor of the claim by Dupas. Dupas moved up to the

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

division. He defeated future

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

champion

Joey Giardello Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army whi ...

in 1961, but lost a 1962 welterweight title shot to

Emile Griffith Emile Alphonse Griffith (February 3, 1938 – July 23, 2013) was a professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who won world titles in three weight divisions. He held the world light middleweight, undisputed welterweight, and middleweight ...

. In 1963,

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...

beat him by a controversial decision.

Championship

Another championship fight for Dupas materialized in the light middleweight division. Lineal Light Middleweight Champion

Denny Moyer Denny Moyer (August 8, 1939 – June 30, 2010) was an American boxer who held the world light middleweight title between 1962 and 1963. He finished his career with a 98–38–4 record. Early life Moyer was born in Portland, Oregon, and attende ...

came to New Orleans on April 29, 1963, and Dupas won the title with a fifteen-round unanimous decision. He lost the title in September of that year to Italian

Sandro Mazzinghi Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzinghi (3 October 1938 – 22 August 2020) was an Italian professional boxer who held the world light middleweight championship twice. Biography In 1961 Mazzinghi won the Military World Championships. The same year he ...

by a thirteen-round knockout. After that match, Emile Griffith once again knocked him out in a non-title bout.

Post-championship career

Dupas briefly retired in 1964 and worked as a card dealer in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. He returned to the ring in 1966 and had little success. He retired for good after five fights that year.

After boxing

After he retired, Dupas began to exhibit signs of

dementia pugilistica Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse o ...

. His brother Tony, also a former fighter, moved Ralph from Las Vegas back to New Orleans and put him in a nursing home.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Ralph Dupas - CBZ Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupas, Ralph 1935 births 2008 deaths Boxers from Louisiana Sportspeople from New Orleans Sportspeople with chronic traumatic encephalopathy American male boxers World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Council champions Light-middleweight boxers World light-middleweight boxing champions