Birmingham state herald., 1896-06-02
THOUGHT HE'D SOFT THING But a Few Rounds Opened
 Burge's Eyes.
 HH5HHs~l FIGHTING WAS FURIOUS In the Tenth Round Laygne Had the English man Fade" Knocked Out bya
 Right-Hander.

London, June 1.-In the first round Lavigne made a dash at his opponent and landed heavily on the body. He tried the same tactics the second time, but Burge lodged and Lavigne went headlong against a post, striking his
 face and injuring himself badly. This,
 however, did not prevent him from fore ing the fighting. He rushed again at Burge and rapidly landed several blows on his body. Burge was driven against the ropes. Thereafter he travelled all over the ring, meeting several rushes in good style, but was kept very busy de- lending himself.
 In the second round Lavigne resumed his rushing, but Burge held him off and lodged cleverly. Then both became cau- tious and neither did any scoring for some time. Then Burge landed heavily with his right and left on Lavigne's eye and mouth, the latter responding with heavy body blows.
 In the third round Burge assumed the offensive and landed several times on Lavignes face, but his blows lacked force and did no harm. Then Lavigne began again to cut out the work and pun ished Burge severely on the chest and
 other parts of the body He then aimed blow at Burge's head, but missed him, and his sparring then became wild and he received couple of blows in the face. There were series of good rallies in
 the fourth round, which ended in Burge's
 favor. The supporters of the English champion were now jubilant at the proS-
 poets of their favorite.
 In the fifth round Burge was caution
 ed for holding to Lavgne. Fast fighting
 followed and Burge was still improving.
 In the sixth round Lavigne forced the
 fighting, pressing his rival to the ropes
 and putting in several heavy body blows.
 In the seventh and eight rounds neith-
 CT man had much advantage.
 Burge came up very cool in the ninth
 round and repeatedly jabbed his oppo-
 nent severely
 At the beginning of the tenth round
 the fighting was very fast Lavigne
 driving the Englishman to the ropes.
 Burge worked all around the ring, dodg
 ing Lavigne's rushes. Eventually the
 Englishman landed with terrific force on ed.
 There were fast exchanges in the eleventh round, but neither man had
 much advantage.
 The twelfth round was slightly in
 Lavigne's favor He landed first, but
 was we'll countered. This round was fast
 and exciting. At the end of the round
 both men sprawled upon the floor
 Lavigne renewed his rushing in the
 thirteenth round, but was well met. The round was hotly contested, but LaVigne finished the better.
 In the fourteenth round Burge led the attack, but struck short. The Kid" failed to rush, but in his second he land ed twice on Burge's ribs. The exchanges were then much slower than In the previous round. Just before the end. of the round Burge landed an ugly blow on his opponents arm, which caused him to wince.
 In the fifteenth round the men were frequently locked, and there were some heavy exchanges. Burge drove his op- ponent's arm very low. Lavigne claimed foul, but it was not allowed. At the beginning of the sixteenth round Lavigne made furious rush at the Eng lishman, but missed him and slipped
 through the ropes. Burge scrupulously awaited his return to the ring. After this Burge was knocked down, and when he got on his feet he was very groggy. Later
 he slipped over, but recovered himself and was again himself.
 In the seventeenth and last round
 Burge acted on the defensive and recov- cred somewhat but the Kid" cut out the
 pace at a tremendous rate. His body
 blows began to tell. Burge stubbornly resisted until he was knocked down by a downward. The EnSishman was counted
 the winner.
 The fight was exciting throughout, but
 with the exception of one or two rounds
 Burge never looked like winner. The fight he put up caused the greatest sur prise, as everybody thought that he had a soft thing.
 Burge sealed 136 pounds and Lavigne 134 The Englishman was good favorite A f odds today of to l.