The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-04-13

In a dercely contested fight from the start to finish. Billy Stein of Cleveland outpointed Charley Lawrence of New York at the Birmingham Athletic club in 10 round bout last night. Both of the fighters mixed freely and landed with hard punches Stein was awarded the de- cision by Referee Riddle. This met with the approval of the crowd.
 Stein and Lawrence were closely matched and the fight was always fast and furious However, Stein had two pound advantage in weight over the New Yorker, as Lawrence weighed 1oO while Stein tipped the scale at 152. The hgnt never dragged and a pleased audience left the Athletic club. It was very much different from the last professional fight that was staged here, when Goodman and Nelson fought.
 Stein excelled in in-fighting. Both pug ilsts agreed that there could be no hit ting in the clinches with one arm free. During these Stein landed three blows to every one of Lawrence's, but none of them were very telling. However, Stein was much stronger at the finish than the New Yorker. Both fighters were very sbifty on their feet. The footwork was very clever, and both seemed very capa- ble at lodging well aimed blows.
 Lawrence hardly ever used his right punch or uppercuts, while Stein ham mered away with both arms. He was quicker than Lawrence and seemed to be more experienced. Lawrence was very elusive and many of Stein's well aimed blows glanced over his shoulder When the fighters clnched Lawrence would duck and Stein hammered at his side and face.
 The first blood came late in the fight. In the ninth round Billy Stein hit a hard right straight to Lawrence's left eye and nearly closed it. His eye bled little but not profusely. Stein seemed cool at all times and smiled-or grinned- when one of the New York's left punches
 when one of the New Workers left punches would miss his face.
 Both kept covered well. Lawrence was very skillful at covering and for that
 reason held Stein The latter was fast on his feet and, although he gave Law renee many openings, he did not suffer
 from them, The audience applauded both
 fighters, but Stein seemed to be the favorte.
 The fight started off fastly. Both of the fighters mixed well and did not love each other in the clinches Neither Stein
 nor Lawrence took the aggressive, but both rushed at times. Both of the mid iieweights took few blows. The frst round did not favor either pugiist. In the second Lawrence came at Stein and rushed him about the ring. He land ed a few left hooks. while Stein retal- lated with rights and lefts to the stom- ach and face In the clinches steln | landed freely and with great speed. How
 ever, Lawrence blocked many of his
 passes and landed more freely than did Stein. The second round was in favor | of Lawrence
 | Stein came back strong in the third round and his blows landed with telling effect upon the New Yorker, He blocked his rushes and held him with greater ease than previously. Lawrence appar- ently had the reach but did not take ad- vantage of it. The third round was Stein's.
 In the fourth honors seemed about even. Stein kept pounding upon Lawrence's left
 side and seemed to weaken him. How ever, Lawrence landed now and then and the fighters seemed to equal each other in every respect
 | In the fifth Stein seemed the better and
 he won this round Lawrence could not cover his openings and Stein landed hard. Many vicious blows were landed with | telling effect.
 l In the sixth by showering lefts and rights to the stomach and face Stein came out victor again. He seemed to be | in better condition than Lawrence, but | both fought hard Lawrence seemed to be very shifty. He hadsthe better of the
 seventh. while Stein came back very