Some of you were asking about Ralph Dupas a few weeks back. Raging B(_)LL sent me this footage here to upload: [yt]41mcqs77_ZQ[/yt] The opponent here is Gil Turner, a perennial welterweight and middleweight contender of the '50s. Dupas was a very quick and slick boxer/mover. At this time, he was coming up from lightweight after having recently fought for the title against Joe Brown, who battered him into a stoppage defeat. Turner was past his prime by this time, but he had had something of a career revival a couple years earlier and figured to still have enough left to beat a "blown up lightweight" like Dupas. As it turned out, Dupas was simply too fast and slick for Turner and he outclassed him to a one-sided decision win. Turner would retire not too long after this fight. Dupas would be a contender for some time at welterweight, eventually fighting for the title and losing to Emile Griffith (in Griffith's first fight back since the Paret tragedy). Dupas would even make a few excursions into middleweight despite being a fairly small-ish welter, and his biggest career win was probably a lopsided decision win over Joey Giardello a few years before Giardello would win the MW title. His most memorable achievement is probably winning the newly formed junior middleweight title, becoming only the second jr. MW champ ever (after Denny Moyer, who he defeated for the title). By that time, Dupas was nearing the end of his career, and he held the title only briefly before losing it and then fading away.
Boxrec reprinted an obituray of Dupas with more information on it: Obituary, written by John Reid, courtesy of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Sunday, January 27, 2008 (on-line link available by subscription only): "Ralph Dupas, who defeated Denny Moyer in New Orleans to win the world junior middleweight championship at the Municipal Auditorium in 1963, died Friday at a nursing home in Denham Springs. He was 72. Dupas was considered one of New Orleans' best professional fighters and was known worldwide. He finished with a 104-23-6 record and was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1994. For the past seven years, Dupas' health had deteriorated because of brain damage from the countless blows he took. In 2000, Dupas was unable to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony in Los Angeles because of complications from his illness. His brother, Tony, now deceased, pushed for his induction by writing numerous letters to committee members. 'Ralph had been bedridden for about five years, and he could not do anything, and it just got worse and worse,' Peter Dupas, Ralph's oldest brother, said Saturday. 'He just couldn't breathe anymore.' Ralph's boxing career began in 1950 when he was 14. In 2000, Tony said Ralph lied about his age to obtain a state boxing license because the age requirement was 18. But Ralph pursued boxing to help his family, which included six brothers and three sisters. The Dupases grew up in a two-bedroom house on the edge of the French Quarter. Their father, Peter, was a fisherman, and he left for two weeks at a time to bring home about $30. After Ralph had his first eight-round fight, he made a down payment for a four-bedroom house for his family. Although he competed in a violent sport, Ralph was known for his friendly ways outside the ring. He always had time to sign autographs and pose for pictures. 'He always said, "No sir, yes sir," 'said legendary trainer Angelo Dundee, who worked the corner for some of Dupas' biggest fights, before Ralph's Hall of Fame induction in 2000. 'He was one of the nicest kids I've ever worked with.' Ralph fought for 16 years and competed in three weight classes -- lightweight, junior middleweight and welterweight. In a number of his bouts, he struck quickly with jabs and bounced on his toes to avoid getting caught with a counterpunch. But Ralph lost to New Orleanian Joe Brown in 1958 for the world lightweight championship. The fight was held in Houston because Louisiana had a law banning interracial boxing matches. In 1962, Ralph lost a close 15-round decision to Emile Griffith for the world welterweight championship in Las Vegas. In 1963, Ralph lost a controversial 10-round decision to eventual welterweight and middleweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson. Ralph retired in 1966 after suffering an eighth-round knockout loss to Joe Clark in Las Vegas. 'When Ralph was in his prime, I was 9 or 10 years old, but I remember a lot of people talking about him,' said Eddie Dupas, Ralph's youngest brother. 'We're real proud of what he accomplished.'"
