EX-SHOWTIME CHIEF PASSES AFTER LONG ILLNESS
San Francisco, CA– Having known of Jay Larkin’s illness, a malignant brain tumor, the same thing that took away the inventor of home PPV, promoter Dan Duva in the 90s, I knew that sooner rather than later I’d be writing this obituary. That being said, the best thing that ever happened to Larkin, who had run Showtime Boxing from 1984 to 2005, was meeting his lovely wife Lisa. I believe when they met she was a dancer and Jay, a Jewish lad from Long Island, NY, who graduated from UCLA film school, was an aspiring actor.
RUN AT SHOWTIME WAS ROCKY AT TIMES
There was a time when Larkin and company televised fights promoted only by Don King. Some of the cards mirrored the Versus TV efforts of Top Rank a year or so ago, nothing but the promoter’s guys winning easilly. For their corporate bending over for the Donald, Showtime got Mike Tyson when he got out of prison. And that made Showtime Event Television, their PPV arm $100’s of millions of dollars.
REMEMBER, SHOWTIME WAS ALWAYS DISTANT SECOND
And for all the crummy fights that were the rule and not the exception, Showtime’s ratings were dismal. After the King-Tyson saga had run it’s course, Jay Larkin started giving dozens of shows to English promoter Frank Warren. At a point and time when people were questioning the Larkin-Warren relationship, Jay Larkin announced he was going to leave Showtime.
ALMOST BECAME “FORMAL” PARTNERS WITH WARREN
In a round abouts way, I was made privy to a document on Frank Warren letter head, that listed a carbon copy going to “Jay Larkin Enterprises.”. The emergence of this material might had been part of the reason Jay left in 2005. Regardless of his dealings with King and Warren, Jay made Viacom (which owns Showtime) a lot of money and he deserved a cut..
JAY’S LAST GIG LOST $36 MILLION!
Larkin’s involvement with the International Fight League came about the time he started getting headaches, feeling something wasn’t right, but at first nobody imagined it was brain cancer. The IFL, an inferior product when compared to UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, was Jay Larkin’s last venture. Although the IFL did their thing on weekly televised cards, it would bleed something like $35 million in red ink before packing it in.
JAY LARKIN WAS LIKE THIS FOLKS..
Either you liked Jay or you didn’t! Although there are those that will credit Jay this week in print and on air for the success of Showtime Championship Boxing and their Sho Box series, the truth of the matter is that he deserves little or no credit for the turnaround. Larkin left in 2005 when ratings were pitiful. Only since his departure did Showtime boxing become the best on TV today.
BURIAL IN ELMONT, NEW YORK
According to Wikipedia, Larkin said the most difficult time he ever had in his career was the Nigel Benn-Gerald McClellan fight of 1995, which crippled Gerald and nearly ended his life. Services were today at Beth David Cemetery in Elhurt, NY. Jay Larkin was 59 years old. In addion to his wife, Jay is survived by two sons.
Pedro Fernandez