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Former Showtime Boxing Producer Jay Larkin Dead at 59

Aug 13, 2010  •  Post A Comment

Former Showtime boxing producer Jay Larkin, who produced more of Mike Tyson’s bouts than anyone else, has died at 59, reports The New York Times.

The cause of death was brain cancer, the story says. Larkin started at Showtime as a publicist, eventually becoming an executive producer and senior vice president before his job was cut in a reorganization in 2005.

In 1986 he became producer of Showtime Championship Boxing and in 2001 he helped start a program about promising new boxers called "ShoBox: The New Generation," the story says. In 1997, he produced the second fight between Tyson and Evander Holyfield, which was the first match to gross more than $100 million and became infamous for Tyson biting off part of Holyfield’s ear.

Prior to that, in 1995, Larkin helped gain exclusive rights to Tyson’s return to boxing after Tyson left prison. Following his departure from Showtime, Larkin became president of the International Fight League in 2007, the article says.

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