By STEVE FORD, Courier & Press staff writer
September 10, 2005

Maybe there should have been more hype for "Rumble on the River."

Casino Aztar's first venture into the fight game in conjunction with Childers Promotions had all the trappings of a Las Vegas or Atlantic City fight night, only in a better place - the Overlook and Events Plaza adjacent to the Ohio River.

It made the night a winner for everyone in the capacity crowd of about 1,000, except for six fighters, the first four of whom were introduced to the canvas by knockout.

Unfortunately for Daniel Maldonado, the feature ended by knockout when the Henderson, Ky., fighter was dropped by Armando Cordoba of Miami, 2:05 into the seventh round of the scheduled eight-rounder.

"I can't say this exceeded expectations," said promoter Jennifer Childers, the Evansville native who fought her way to a 7-0 mark as a pro. "I thought this would happen if you could put on a good show,

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especially in Indiana, where there haven't been many good fight nights."

Saturday looked and sounded good with ring announcer Jim E. Jam, an Indianapolis veteran of the fight game who has called almost every big fight in Indiana and dozens more on ESPN and FOX Sports, according to North American Boxing Council president Ed Hutchison.

"Jim E. Jam is big time," said Hutchison, whose NABC sanctioned the title fight between Daniel Maldonado and Armando Cordoba. "He almost legitimizes this event by himself.

"But we also saw some very good fighters, had a title fight and had everything here go well. But the biggest winner here tonight was Jen Childers.

"This was a first-time promotion. It could have tanked, could've been terrible. But there's people hanging off the rafters and they're into it. Anybody associated with Jen Childers tonight looks brilliant by association. This will open a lot of doors for her."

And possibly for a couple fighters. After the first two fights, both heavyweight contests that ended by knockout in the third round, Evansville was treated to the professional debut of royalty, Evansville's "King" David Thomas. Thomas, a middleweight, entered the plaza with an entourage worthy of a world title fight and wearing a crown. He was also fighting in a worthy color, royal purple, of course.

In the ring he looked the veteran, knocking out Martiz Taylor of Indianapolis just 1:05 into the first round. "That's the first real boxer we've seen," said Hutchison. "He stayed low and uncoiled those punches like a guy cracking a whip. That was power, real power."

Thomas, the son of Evansville professional boxer Danny Thomas, was happy to win his debut in his hometown.

"It was really exciting to be open to open like this in front of my friends and family," said Thomas. Another Evansville fighter in his pro debut, Elija Armes, didn't fare as well. He was bloodied then knocked out by Peter Currin (2-1) of Hartford, Conn.

Paducah's Patrick Lyles beat Robert Adams of Morganfield in his pro debut. Evansville super middleweight Wayne Cooper went to 4-2 in his career with a technical knockout of Nathan Wilkes.

A women's fight, the co-feature between Kelli Cofer (11-3-4) and Angel McNamara (5-2-1), went the distance and became a unanimous decision for Cofer.

Maldonado fell to 18-2-0 with his loss to Cordoba (21-18-0).