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.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

[9] 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 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.

[11] 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.

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.

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.

[13] 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".

[14] 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.

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

[17] In the 19 July 1930 edition of Collyer's Eye and The Baseball World, Lawless was ranked Number 6 among the "Ten Best Welterweights.

Robert Edgren, the nationally syndicated American sports reporter, wrote in 1931 that welterweight champions "have been dodging the tough ones by making good contenders come in overweight.

[27] The Syracuse Journal wrote an article about the newlywed couple's home life in their apartment at The James, and featured four large at-home photographs with captions, such as Lawless serving coffee, washing dishes, and listening to the new radio with his wife.

A week after his May 8 victory over Young Jack Thompson, he arrived in Auburn shortly after 8:00 p.m. and was met at the Five Points by more than a hundred cars.