Bobby Dykes, 77; Boxer Fought Kid Gavilan and Sugar Ray Robinson

Bobby Dykes, 77, a boxer in the 1940s and ‘50s who fought Kid Gavilan and Sugar Ray Robinson, died Wednesday of Lou Gehrig’s disease at his home in Coral Gables, Fla., his son-in-law Harry Roberts said.

The lanky white left-hander from San Antonio earned a title fight against welterweight champion Kid Gavilan in 1952. The bout was the first between a white and a black boxer in then-segregated Miami, and the Cuban-born Gavilan won a split decision.

“I got a few death threats,” Dykes told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2000. “That was when blacks went to the back of the bus. Two whites could fight and two blacks could fight, but not a black and a white. They told me, ‘Bobby, you’re giving up your heritage by fighting a black.’ It was a big thing in those days.”

Dykes and Gavilan met again three years later in a nontitle match, which Dykes won by unanimous decision. He fought Robinson in 1950 in Chicago, losing a split decision.

Dykes retired in 1957 with a record of 115-23-8, with 54 knockouts, then went on to a successful business career in South Florida.