Pfc Eugene "K.O" Denis, Once Well Known Local Boxer,
Is Reported Killed In Action On French Soil

"K. O" Denis will fight no more. Never again will the dark-visaged Winslow French-American, short of stature but dynamite with his punches, weave between the strands of a Maine ring because Private First Class Eugene Denis is dead as a result of wounds received in action in France.

And there went a battler who had given boxing fans of this city and other communities many thrill-packed evening of pugilistic activity. He probably gave his German foes some thrill of anther type before he died.

Denis had plenty of experience drilling his boxing opponents with trip-hammer blows in his hey-day and there's little reason for his fans to think that he couldn't handle that machine gun just as well over in France.

In the war, K.O. was a machine gunner. He entered military service October 27, 1942 and trained at Camp Atterbury, Ind., going overseas three months ago. Before entering the service he was employed at the Hollingsworth and Whitney plant in Winslow.

His half-sister, Mrs. Ambrose Denis of 95 Clinton Avenue, Winslow was notified by the War Department this week that Denis was seriously wounded July 16. A subsequent message was to the effect that he died the same day he was wounded.

Thirty-three years old when he died, Denis was born in Winslow, the son of the late Moses and Mary Denis.

Even local sports fans who never saw the sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes murderous, sometimes lilting displays of fighting staged in local rings know about Al McCoy. Many youngsters know of Cecil Grant, K.O. LaMouche, Pancho Villa, etc.  McCoy became the most famous as he graduated from "Ghost Boy" status to the heavyweight foe of Joe Louis, fighting for the championship of the world.

Back in the early days, when it was "Kid" McCoy and the boys were fighting for peanuts in the scarcely paying prelims on local fight cards, K.O. Denis helped to give the fans the thrills.

He began boxing when he was 15 years old. He was a cousin of the same Al McCoy, or Florien LeBraseur, his real name.

And he more than held his own with that same McCoy when both were "kids".

It was Denis who delivered a paralyzing punch which developed a "glass jaw" at the term applies in the ring, to Rony Caret, Augusta boxer.

Through the late 1920's Denis showed his ring wares here, then took to the sidelines as the ring game faired badly. Only a sprinkling of fans turned out for the shows and Denis didn't think the dangers of the prize ring were worth the money received.

When it came time figuratively to don the trunks and the padded mitts again, this time for Uncle Sam, Denis went back to the wars.

It was a different type of war than he'd known and his fans back home probably never will know what he thought of it. However, they know he always loved a good fight.

Surviving Denis are the following: half-sisters, Mrs. Flora Denis, Mrs. Mary Denis, Mrs. Amanda Denis, Artemes Butler, Mrs. Bernadette Breton, Mabel and Ida Denis, half-brothers, Andrew Daniel, Luis and William Denis.