Thomas Lawless

His parents were Martin J. Lawless (1869–1941) and Francis T. Lawless (née O'Brien; 1883–1946).

His father was born in Ireland, emigrated to the U.S. in 1882, and worked for the New York Central Railroad, while his mother was born in Ontario, Canada, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1889.

Thomas was nicknamed "Bucky" by his friends soon after he began grade school at Holy Family School in Auburn.

One of his first jobs was as a newspaper hawker for the Auburn Citizen, which is when he learned to fight in alley brawls with other newsies.

Lawless dropped out of junior high school to learn boxing.

Thomas William Lawless (March 3, 1908 – June 19, 1966), better known as Bucky Lawless, was an American welterweight boxer from Auburn, New York, who fought 131 professional bouts between April 30, 1925, and October 9, 1936.

He was known for his hair-trigger left-handed punch.

Lawless was one of the first boxers to be approved by the New York State Athletic Commission to box in professional bouts before he was 18 years of age.

During Lawless' boxing career, sports writers called him the "Uncrowned Welterweight Champion of the World" by virtue of his non-title victories over four champions.

Thomas "Bucky" Lawless was born on March 3, 1908, in Auburn, New York.

Collyer's Eye, a weekly sports journal published in Chicago from 1915 to 1929, ran regularly scheduled articles that rated professional welterweight boxers.

Although the rating methodology was not described, the article stated that all factors were taken into consideration in the figures employed and the system gives an accurate slant on a fighter's chances in a bout against another rated boxer.

The purpose of the article was to allow readers to view two rated boxers for an upcoming bout and to select the projected winner based on his higher rating.

These ratings were officially endorsed by the National Boxing Association and Pennsylvania Commission.

On September 18, 1924, at 16 years of age, he made his lightweight debut in Moravia, New York, where he fought Red Curry from Binghamton, NY.

After three rounds, Lawless was awarded the decision.

Lawless' professional boxing debut occurred on September 28, 1925, when he fought and won against Tony Occipenti at Town Hall, Scranton, PA, by points after six rounds.

He won 14 consecutive matches between September 1925 and May 1926, which included winning the Champion Lightweight of Central New York title from Sailor Pacilio (Ralph Rocco Pacilio) on April 12, 1926, at the Syracuse Arena in Syracuse, NY.

His first professional loss occurred on May 28, 1926, in the Syracuse Arena, when he lost his match by points against Jackie Brady (Amedio Pizzica) and gave up his title to him.

The crowd of over 5,000 did not approve of the judges' decision and jeered.

The Auburn Citizen, reporting on the fight, declared that favoritism was shown to Brady by the judges and that Lawless had been robbed of his title.

Lawless lost by points in a rematch against Brady on July 16, 1926, at Star Park in Syracuse.

The rematch nearly did not occur for several reasons: initially, it was rumored that Lawless and boxer Canastota Bob (Joseph Kanafolo) had been "given a vacation" (suspended) by the New York State Boxing Commission after Lawless and Bob had recently worked in the corners of amateur boxers at a match in Ithaca, NY.

Deputy State Commissioner Hodges responded that he would not interfere and that Lawless would be able to fight Brady.

After two postponements, Lawless' manager, Edward Epstein, stated that Lawless would be unable to meet the stipulated weight and that taking off too much weight quickly would weaken him, leaving him in no shape to fight.

During a scheduled conference, Charlie Celli, Brady's manager, stated that if Lawless did not meet the weight standard, he would consider it a forfeit.

Epstein retorted that if another agreement was not reached, he would not permit Lawless to fight.

A second conference that Lawless and Brady attended was scheduled the next day.

The argument between Epstein and Celli during this conference became so heated that Marc Buckland, president of the Syracuse Arena Athletic Club, had to intervene several times to prevent the two managers from physically fighting each other.

After over three hours of negotiations, an agreement was reached and the match was scheduled.

Joe Netro of the Syracuse Arena Athletic Club, while speaking with reporters quipped that he was thinking of calling off the upcoming match at Star Park because he had heard there would be a "Lawless element there".

Lawless won the Welterweight Title of Central New York on October 14, 1927, when he defeated Billy Leonard at the Syracuse Arena in six rounds.

Bucky carried all the rounds except for the second and fourth.

It was called a grudge match after Leonard and his manager were "nasty" to Lawless while in the dressing rooms before the match, calling him a "small town pug" and a "country boy".

In the sixth round, Leonard stood in the center of the ring, challenging Lawless to "come on", who accepted and effectively won the sixth round and the bout.

Lawless first appeared in the rankings in the 15 October 1927 edition of Collyer's Eye.

He was among 122 boxers listed in this edition and they were rated with scores between 109 and 300.

Lawless was rated at 239.

Of the eight fighters Lawless fought in 1927 who were rated in the same article, Lawless had victories over three fighters who had lower ratings than him (Bobby Richardson, Willie Greb, Eddie Dyer), and a loss against one fighter with a lower rating than him (Eddie Burnbrook).

He had victories over two of the fighters who had higher ratings than him (Billy Leonard, Willie Harmon) and a draw with one fighter with a higher rating (Pete August).