The death of former Showtime boxing bossman Jay Larkin reminded me of two things.
One, Larkin was one of those people who really was universally liked in the boxing and TV jungles.
I’m not saying because he’s gone, I say it because it’s true. He could be Brooklyn tough on business issues but, in personal dealings, Larkin had a gentle touch.
You could be an usher at the MGMGrand Garden Arena or a ribbon clerk at the Showtime offices on Broadway, it didn’t matter to Larkin. He had always had time for a hello and how are you even with the commoners.
Larkin fought a bruising battle with brain cancer and he lost the early rounds. But then he rallied and it was thought the killer disease was in remission.
But, then it came back in the final rounds, and Larkin is gone too young at age 59.
Gentle soul, creative showman, Jay Larkin elevated Showtime boxing and gave HBO a run for its money
He was missed when he ?ankled? the prime cable network and he will be missed more now.
I harken back to one magical night in Atlantic City when Showtime took a bunch of fight scribes out for dinner.
Larkin was our amiable host but the life of the party was his father, who grew up in a world of Jewish gangsters, prizefighters and other colorful characters in Brooklyn. Larkin’s father mesmerized all of us with one remarkable and often ribald story after another and I think even one or two of them were true.
Two, there’s been repetitive criticism in boxing circles lately of Bob Arum and other promoters constantly promoting bouts matching their own ?in house? fighters.
There’s nothing wrong with using ?in house? ring talent and Larkin’s glory years at Showtime with on King, Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez are proof positive of that.
King would put on five or six world title bouts, all involving his own fighters, and fans got to see one wicked bout after another.
The reason being that King’s ?house? was jam packed with exciting fighters including Simon Brown, Terrible Terry Norris, Julian Jackson, Gerald McClellan and, later on, a rising rail-thin Puerto Rican named Felix Trinidad.
King’s ?A side? guys all fought each other.
Larkin brought King and UK promoter Frank Warren together and we got to see the brilliant but tragic fight between Nigel Benn and McClellan.
So it’s not ?in house? fights that are per se bad, it’s when your boxing cupboard is skimpy or bare and you put your ? side? boxers in against no hopers that is hurting the sport.
Larkin knew that and it was a rare night that he allowed gross mismatches on the Showtime airwaves.
Adios, Jaybird.
I bet you and Pops are rapping out about Mayweather and Pacquiao even now.
Fight guys do that, I think, even in the Great Beyond.
